Rhododendron detonsum Balf.f. & Forrest

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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 detonsum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-detonsum/). Accessed 2024-10-05.

Genus

Rhododendron

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.
acuminate: Narrowing gradually to a point.
apex: (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
campanulate: Bell-shaped.
cone: Term used here primarily to indicate the seed-bearing (female) structure of a conifer (‘conifer’ = ‘cone-producer’); otherwise known as a strobilus. A number of flowering plants produce cone-like seed-bearing structures including Betulaceae and Casuarinaceae.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular: Bearing glands.
hybrid: Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
indumentum: A covering of hairs or scales.
lax: Loose or open.
petiole: Leaf stalk.
style: Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

Royal Horticultural Society (1997). The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron detonsum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-detonsum/). Accessed 2024-10-05.

A hybrid of R. adenogynum (Subsect. Taliensia). It may be distinguished from the parent species by the broader leaves that have a sparse 1-layered evanescent indumentum. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

An evergreen shrub up to 12 ft high; branchlets stout, at first floccose and glandular, soon glabrous. Leaves oblong or oblong-elliptic, acuminate at the apex, rounded at the base, 3 to 5 in. long, 11⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. wide, glabrous above, covered beneath with a thin brown indumentum which gradually falls away, leaving the underside almost glabrous by late summer; petiole 5⁄8 to 11⁄2 in. long, glabrous. Flowers about ten together in a lax truss, opening in May; pedicels up to 2 in. or slightly more long, glandular and floccose. Calyx about 1⁄8 in. long, with five oblong or roundish lobes. Corolla funnel-campanulate, pink with carmine speckling in the throat, five- to seven-lobed, about 3 in. wide. Stamens ten to fourteen, filaments downy in the lower third of their length. Ovary cone-shaped, glandular; style glandular except near the tip. Bot. Mag., t. 9359. (s. Taliense ss. Adenogynum)

R. detonsum was discovered by Forrest in N.W. Yunnan in 1917 on the eastern flank of the Sungkwei range, just west of the Yangtse, and was probably introduced by him from the same area in the same year. It first flowered at Edinburgh in 1917. At its best, as figured in the Botanical Magazine, this is one of the finest species for flower in the Taliense series. The truss figured there is from the Edinburgh plant.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

A probable natural hybrid of R. adenogynum. A plant raised from seed of typical R. adenogynum matches the type of R. × detonsum (Rev. 2, p. 341).

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