Rhododendron Cultivars E

'Earl of Athlone'

Flowers up to 20 in the truss. Corolla tubular-campanulate, 23⁄4 in. wide, with erect, overlapping lobes, vivid blood-red, with two faint lines of black speckles in the tube. Style stout, white, abruptly upturned at the apex; stigma green. Leaves dull medium green, elliptic-obovate, 4 to 5 in. long. Of rather straggly habit and not a strong grower. Late April or early May. (‘Queen Wilhelmina’ × ‘Stanley Davies’; van Nes. F.C.C.T. 1933.)

'Earl of Donoughmore'

Flowers 10 to 15 in the truss; rachis 2 in. long – pedicels glandular. Corolla Spinel Red (54a), darker in the throat, funnel-shaped, about 4 in. wide. Style stout, red, glabrous. Leaves oblanceolate, dull green, to 71⁄2 in. long. May. A hybrid raised in Holland by M. Koster and Sons from R. griersonianum crossed with (‘Mrs L. A. Dunnet’ × Hardy Hybrid). It is best grown in almost full sun, as it is inclined to sprawl in shady woodland.

'Eddy'

Corolla 21⁄2 in. wide, funnel-shaped from a broad base, with heavy, dark speckling on the upper lobes, margins slightly waved. Stamens nine. Persistent leaves dark green, up to 2 in. long. May. Tall, to about 7 ft (R. kaempferi × Indian azalea ‘Apollo’; Rothschild). A.M. 1944.

'Eileen'

Flowers 16 in the truss. Corolla 3 in. wide, blush with a broad edge of pink (66d) and a flare of yellow on the lower part of the central lobe. Style white; stigma pale red. Medium growth. Early June. (Waterer, Bagshot.)

Eleanore (augustinii × desquamatum)

Inflorescence four- or five-flowered. Corolla shaped as in the parents, about 3 in. wide, amethyst-violet, slightly spotted. A tall, vigorous shrub. Late April or early May. (Rothschild.) There is also a paler form, which appears to be the one that received the A.M. in 1943.

Elisabeth Hobbie ('Essex Scarlet' × forrestii)

Flowers about five per truss, on glandular pedicels 1 in. long. Corolla campanulate, 2 in. wide, Turkey Red. Style and stamen-filaments red. Leaves elliptic to obovate, 2 to 3 in. long, rounded at the apex, glossy, lateral veins impressed. May. (Dietrich Hobbie, Linswege, Germany.) Many plants were raised from this cross. The plant described above is from a commercial clone, and is bushy and very vigorous, with excellent foliage. ‘Scarlet Wonder’, which belongs to this grex, is similar in flower-colour and foliage, but is dwarfer and more spreading. Two others in the same style as ‘Scarlet Wonder’, and said also to be ‘Essex Scarlet’ × R. forrestii, are ‘Baden-Baden’ and ‘Bad Eilsen’.

Elizabeth (forrestii × griersonianum)

Flowers six to nine in the truss, on glandular reddish pedicels. Corolla obliquely funnel-shaped, 23⁄4 to 3 in. wide (somewhat larger on plants grown in shade), scarlet, slightly speckled, nectaries dark red. Stamens with red filaments and black anthers. Leaves medium green, slightly rugose, oblong to oblong-obovate, obtuse, 21⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long; petioles reddish. April. (Aberconway, 1933. A.M. 1939; F.C.C. 1943.)

This is perhaps the finest of the hybrids raised by F. C. Puddle at Bodnant and, if habit and foliage as well as flower are considered, the finest of all the smaller hybrids. Its only fault is its early flowering. As an example of its growth may be taken a plant growing on the north side of a beech hedge at the top of a dry wall, which in eighteen years has spread to 10 ft in both directions and is 3 ft high at the back, sloping to the top of the dry wall and beyond it at the front. Sister plants in woodland, put in at the same time, are much laxer in growth and 6 ft high. ‘Jenny’, a clone of this grex, has drooping, self-layering outer branchlets and is good for a bank where it can spread at will. The flowers are a trifle smaller.

'Elizabeth Lockhart'

‘Elizabeth Lockhart’ is a sport from Humming Bird (haematodes × williamsianum) raised by Prof. R. D. Lockhart of Aberdeen, in which the young foliage is dark chocolate brown, and even the mature stems, leaf-blades and petioles are deeper than normal. The flowers too are darker than normal, near to Indian Lake.

'Elsa Crisp'

Flowers 14 to 18 in a conical truss. Corolla funnel-shaped from a broad base, 3 in. wide, delicate pink (pale Rose Bengal) at the edge, paling at the centre of each lobe and in the throat, with slight crimson speckling on the lower part of the centre lobe. Anthers pale brown, tinged with pink, filaments white. Style white, sharply upswept at the tip, with a dark red stigma. Early June. (Waterer, Bagshot.) Said to be a seedling of ‘Mrs E. C. Stirling’.

Elsae

This is a hybrid of unknown origin and parentage, thought to be a cross between R. grande and either R. falconeri or, as Millais thought, R. hodgsonii. The flowers are ivory white with a crimson blotch in the throat, campanulate, borne in large trusses of about 20; leaves up to 1 ft long, dark green and reticulate above, with impressed laterals, clad beneath with a woolly brown tomentum which tends to wear away, exposing the felted under-layer. In the Notes of the Rhododendron Society, Vol. III, p. 115, the provenance is given as ‘Raised by the Hon. John Boscawen and given to G. Carlyon of Tregrehan’. The Hon. J. T. Boscawen was Rector of Lamorran, in the grounds of Tregothnan, the property of his brother the sixth Viscount Falmouth. It is perhaps of relevance that in 1877 Boscawen showed to the Scientific Committee of the R.H.S. a ‘splendid’ truss of campanulate waxy white flowers from a ‘fine tree’ at Tregothnan, which Dr Hooker, who was in the chair, pronounced to be R. argenteum [R. grande] crossed with R. lanatum. This may well have been the original ‘Elsae’, even though the parentage suggested by Hooker does not seem very likely.

Despite the uncertainty about the parentage of ‘Elsae’, the name is used in the International Register as the collective name for crosses between R. grande and R. hodgsonii. Hybrids of this parentage were raised at Clyne Castle, Swansea, with flowers in various shades of pink or mauve, and one of these received an Award of Merit when shown by Adm. Heneage-Vivian in 1940 (as “Elsae Clyne”).

'Elspeth'

Flowers eight to ten in the truss. Corolla campanulate, 23⁄4 in. wide, vivid red in the bud, the colour lightening as the flower opens and gradually turning to cream, but the edges often remaining red for some time, giving a picotee effect. (campylocarpum × hardy hybrid; Slocock. A.M. 1937.)

'Emasculum'

Probably of the same parentage as Praecox is ‘Emasculum’. This has the flowers solitary or in pairs at the end of the shoot. Corolla 11⁄2 to 2 in. wide, pale lilac-purple, unspotted. Calyx scarcely lobed, scaly. Stamens none or aborted. Style glabrous. It grows to about 6 ft high and flowers some two or three weeks later than Praecox – in March or early April. Nothing is known of its origin, but according to William Watson it was grown by Messrs Veitch in their Coombe Wood nursery as “R. amoenum”.

'Emerald Isle'

Flowers about nine in a loose truss. Corolla 4 in. across, widely campanulate, greenish yellow, deepening in the throat. May (Idealist × Naomi; R.H.S. Gardens, Wisley.) A.M. 1956. A product of the same cross is ‘New Comet’, which has light yellow flowers shaded with pink. A.M. 1957.

'Essex Scarlet'

Flowers 16 to 20 in a compact truss. Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3 in. wide, rich crimson-scarlet with a heavy black flare, lobes wavy. Leaves narrow-elliptic. Upright, vigorous growth. June. A.M. 1899 when shown by G. Paul’s nursery. Unusually late-flowering for a hardy hybrid of such an intense colour. It is a parent of the Elisabeth Hobbie grex.

Ethel (F. C. Puddle × forrestii)

Truss with about six flowers on stout reddish pedicels. Corolla tubular-funnel-shaped, about 2 in. long and wide, deep scarlet. Leaves oblanceolate, 31⁄2 by 11⁄4 in., dark green and glossy, lateral veins slightly impressed above. Dwarf, spreading habit. April. (Aberconway, 1934. F.C.C. 1940.) The F. C. Puddle grex is R. griersonianum × R. neriiflorum, but the influence of the former species, so potent in first-generation crosses, scarcely shows in this hybrid. It is one of the best low-growing reds, attaining 3 by 6 ft in 15 years or so.

'Eva Goude'

Sulphur-yellow, almost self-coloured, fragrant (Knap Hill, 1951). Beautifully coloured, but a weak grower.

'Everestianum'

Flowers about 20 in a dense truss. Corolla widely funnel-shaped, about 3 in. across, with broad-ovate, frilled lobes, rosy lilac, paler in the centre, with a flare of yellowish-green spots. Style mauve; ovary glandular-downy. Leaves oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, 41⁄4 by 2 in. Dense habit. End May or June. It is remarkable that this hybrid, raised at the Knap Hill nursery before 1843, is still widely available in commerce today. Yet even in 1853 it was referred to as ‘an old but very fine kind’, which suggests that it may have arisen very soon after the introduction of R. catawbiense in 1809. It is a hybrid between that species and either R. maximum or (R. maximum × R. ponticum).

'Exbury Cornish Cross'

(A.M. 1935) The flowers are brighter and more evenly crimson than in ‘Cornish Cross’. Smith had used a not outstanding form of R. thomsonii and a R. griffithianum raised at Penjerrick; in the Exbury cross, the F.C.C. form of R. griffithianum was used (Rothschild Rhododendrons, p. 67 and pl. 31; Rhodo. Soc. Notes, Vol. III, pp. 254–5).

'Exbury Lady Chamberlain'

In ‘Exbury Lady Chamberlain’ (F.C.C. 1931) the flowers are four or five to the truss, with a ground colour of orange-red, shading to paler on the lobes and tinged with rose on the outside.

See notes for Lady Chamberlain Group

'Exbury Naomi'

Flowers about 14 in the truss. Corolla 4 in. wide, with a ground-colour of biscuit-yellow, tinged with pink, especially on the edges, and deep pink in the bud. Style glandular to the tip, with a large dark green stigma. Leaves oblanceolate, 81⁄2 by 23⁄4 in.

Exminster (campylocarpum × thomsonii)

This uncommon hybrid was raised at Penjerrick and named by Messrs R. Veitch of Exeter, who put it into commerce and received an A.M. for it in 1923. The corollas are campanulate, cream-coloured heavily flushed with pink; inflorescence with five or six flowers. Foliage intermediate between those of the parents. The cross was made in other gardens.

'Exquisita'

Creamy white, flushed with pink, especially on the upper lobes, flare orange, margins frilled. Fragrant (Occidentale Hybrid; M. Koster and Sons, 1901.) F.C.C.T. May 30, 1968.