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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
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'Rhododendron dignabile' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Shrub or small tree, 0.6-4 m. Leaves 7.5-18 x 4-6.5 cm, elliptic to obovate-lanceolate, apex acute to apiculate, lower surface with a thin discontinuous one-layered brown indumentum composed of the scattered remains of hairs and glands; petioles sparsely floccose or glabrescent. Flowers 5-15, in a lax to dense truss; calyx 0.5-3 mm; corolla white to yellow, sometimes flushed pink, with or without purple flecks and/or a purple basal blotch, campanulate to funnel-campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 25-45 mm; ovary glabrous or with a brownish red floccose indumentum that is sometimes interspersed with glands, style usually glabrous, occasionally glandular below. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)
Distribution China E Tibet
Habitat 3,350-4,550 m
RHS Hardiness Rating H6
Conservation status Near threatened (NT)
This variable species, which is apparently related to or a hybrid of R. beesianum, has been recently reintroduced. Although it has been recorded in living collections for some time there has been some doubt as to the authenticity of the plants. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)