Rhododendron crinigerum Franch.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron crinigerum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-crinigerum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron ixeuticum Balf. f. & W. W. Sm.

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
indumentum
A covering of hairs or scales.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
oblanceolate
Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.
rugose
Wrinkled.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron crinigerum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-crinigerum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub or small tree, 1–5 m; young shoots with a sparse covering of stalked glands. Leaves subcoriaceous, (7–)10–17 × (2.3–)3–4.2 cm, obovate to oblanceolate, apex cuspidate, lower surface with a fawn to red-brown tomentum composed of ramiform hairs. Flowers 8–14 to a truss; calyx 5–10 mm; corolla white flushed pink, with purple flecks and a basal blotch, campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 30–40 mm; ovary stalked-glandular. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Myanmar NE China NW Yunnan, SE Tibet

Habitat 3,350–4,000 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

An evergreen shrub up to 20 ft high in the wild; young shoots and leaf-stalks very sticky with glandular bristles. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblanceolate, tapered to a narrow, often rounded base, slenderly pointed, 3 to 7 in. long, 34 to 134 in. wide, dark glossy green and soon glabrous above; clothed beneath with a soft tawny felt, with many small, ultimately dark glands on the midrib; leafstalk 58 in. long. Flowers about twelve in a truss. Calyx deeply five-lobed, the lobes narrowly oblong, 14 in. long, glandular-bristly and hairy like the flower-stalks which are up to 1 in. long. Corolla bell-shaped, 112 in. long, five-lobed, white with a dark blotch at the base and sometimes flushed with rose. Stamens ten, downy at the base. Ovary thickly furnished with stalked glands; style glabrous except at the base. Bat. Mag., t. 9464. (s. Barbatum ss. Crinigerum)

R. crinigerum was discovered by the French missionary Soulié in 1895 on the Mekong-Salween divide and introduced by Forrest in 1914. It seems to be a fairly common species in the Yunnan-Tibet borderland, from the Kari pass on the Mekong-Yangtse divide westward to the upper Irrawaddy, and all the sendings by Forrest and Dr Rock are from this region. But Kingdon Ward later found it as far west as the Delei river in the Mishmi Hills, Assam (KW 7123). It bears some resemblance to R. glischrum and R. habrotrichum in its flowers, but the dense, velvety covering beneath the leaf distinguishes it.

R. crinigerum is a very handsome species at its best, and is represented in the Windsor Great Park collection by a fine group of plants raised from KW 7123 and from various seed collections by Forrest and Rock. The material figured in the Botanical Magazine is from Rock 59186, collected on Mt Kenichunpu, Irrawaddy-Salween divide. R. crinigerum received an Award of Merit in 1935, when shown from Exbury on April 30.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

R. bainbridgeanum – Tagg and Forrest, the authors of this species, considered it to be very closely allied to R. crinigerum, differing in the relatively much broader leaves less pointed at the apex, the thinner indumentum and the less rugose upper surface. But its proper place is in subsect. Selensia (Rev. 2, pp. 277 and 459). See also R. habrotrichum in this supplement.


R bainbridgeanum Tagg & Forr

Leaves on the average shorter and relatively wider, much less pointed at the apex, otherwise not differing much from R. crinigerum. Introduced by Forrest in 1922 from the Tsarong region of S.E. Tibet, where it occurs on the Salween-Irrawaddy divide. Seeds collected later by Rock are from the same area.

var. crinigerum

Leaves sparsely glandular, and with a dense matted tomentum beneath.


var. euadenium Tagg & Forr

Leaves densely glandular, usually with a sparse indumentum beneath. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Indumentum thinner, not completely concealing the undersurface of the leaf. There is a very striking example of this variety in the Windsor collection, raised from Rock 03908, with leaves about 9 in. long.