Rhododendron desquamatum Balf. f. & Forr.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron desquamatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-desquamatum/). Accessed 2024-10-13.

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron catapastum Balf. f. & Forr.
  • Rhododendron stenoplastum Balf. f. & Forr.
  • Rhododendron squarrosum Balf. f.

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.
included
(botanical) Contained within another part or organ.
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.
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.
acuminate
Narrowing gradually to a point.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
article
(in Casuarinaceae) Portion of branchlet between each whorl of leaves.
cuneate
Wedge-shaped.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
included
(botanical) Contained within another part or organ.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
oblanceolate
Inversely lanceolate; broadest towards apex.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron desquamatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-desquamatum/). Accessed 2024-10-13.

An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 25 ft high; young branchlets scaly, not hairy. Leaves 314 to 4 in. long, 1 to 134 in. wide, elliptic, oblong-elliptic, or occasionally lanceolate or oblanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, upper surface dull green and varying from densely scaly (type of R. catapastum) to not scaly (type of R. desquamatum), underside densely scaly, the scales unequal in size and the larger ones darker than the others; petioles about 12 in. long, scaly. Inflorescence terminal, with four to eight flowers on pedicels 12 to 34 in. long, scaly. Calyx rim-like, scaly. Corolla funnel-shaped, very often widely so or almost flat, up to about 112 in. long and 2 in. wide, scaly on the outside, varying in colour from mauve or pinkish mauve to purple, spotted with crimson. Ovary densely scaly; style glabrous. Flowering-time March or April. Bot. Mag., t. 9497. (s. Heliolepis)

Native of N.W. Yunnan and of bordering parts of Szechwan, Tibet, and Burma. Although found earlier by one of the French missionaries, R. desquamatum was described from a specimen collected by Forrest on the Shweli-Salween divide, near the border between Yunnan and Burma in 1917. The flowers were described as ‘saturated purple’ and the leaves as being devoid of scales on the upper surface (whence the specific epithet). The type of R. cata­pastum was a fruiting specimen collected by Forrest in the mountains north of Yungpeh, east of the Yangtse; in this the leaves are scaly above and the flowers (which Forrest saw on a later visit) rose or purplish rose. It is now included in R. desquamatum, though Hutchinson provisionally kept the two separate in his article accompanying the plate in the Botanical Magazine.

R. desquamatum is closely allied to R. rubiginosum, but the leaves and flowers are larger and, more significantly, the scales on the leaf underside are unequal in size and colour. The purple-flowered forms of this species are very fine. They were mainly raised from seeds collected on the Salween-Nmai Hka divide, not far north of the type locality, e.g., Farrer 875 and Forrest 26482 and 26488. But there is some variation even in plants from a single seed-collection. Sprays from five plants of F.24535, exhibited by Capt. Talbot Fletcher on April 5, 1938, had flowers ranging from clear pale mauve to reddish mauve. The species received an Award of Merit on the basis of this exhibit.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

Included in R. rubiginosum, q.v. in this supplement.