Rhododendron davidii Franch.

TSO logo

Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron davidii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-davidii/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

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.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.
rachis
Central axis of an inflorescence cone or pinnate leaf.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron davidii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-davidii/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Conservation status Near threatened (NT)

An evergreen shrub 4 to 12 ft high, leaves and young shoots glabrous, the latter yellowish. Leaves oval-oblong, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, terminated by a short, abrupt tip; 3 to 6 in. long, 34 to 2 in. broad; pale green, net-veined beneath; stalk 12 to 34 in. long. Flowers produced ten or more together in a raceme up to 6 in. long; corolla widely bell-shaped, 134 to 2 in. across, seven-lobed, lilac-purple spotted with a deeper shade on the upper side; calyx, flower-stalk, style and ovary glandular; stamens fourteen, not downy. (s. Fortunei ss. Davidii)

R. davidii is named after the French missionary David, who discovered it near Mupin in W. Szechwan in 1869. Wilson found it again in 1904, when collecting for Messrs Veitch, and sent home seeds, but the true species is very rare in cultivation. The plants originally distributed as R. davidii in this country are R. oreodoxa. It is related to that species and to R. fargesii, but differs from both in the much longer leaves and in the remarkably elongated inflorescence-rachis.