Rhododendron eclecteum Balf.f. & Forre

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron eclecteum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-eclecteum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Infraspecifics

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron eclecteum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-eclecteum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub, 1–3(–4.5) m; bark smooth and peeling; young shoots usually sparsely glandular. Leaves 4–14.5 × 3–5.6 cm obovate-lanceolate (jargonelle-shaped), base acute to rounded, upper surface glabrous, lower epidermis lacking papillae, glabrous though often with some straight simple hairs on either side of the midrib; petioles 4–10 mm, narrowly winged, glabrous or with a few stalked glands. Flowers 6–11, in a dense truss; calyx 2–15 mm, usually cupular; corolla white or cream, or more usually deep crimson, with darker nectar pouches and sometimes also purple flecks, campanulate to widely funnel-campanulate, (30–)40–50 mm; ovary densely stalked-glandular, style glabrous. Flowering February to April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Myanmar NE China SE Tibet, NW Yunnan, SW Sichuan

Habitat 3,000–4,000 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1949 (E. de Rothschild, Exbury); flowers Primrose Yellow. AM 1978 (R.N.S. Clarke, Borde Hill, Sussex) to a clone 'Kingdom Come', Kingdon-Ward 6869; flowers white, flushed yellow green, slightly spotted red-purple.

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)


var. bellatulum Balf.f. ex Tagg

A hybrid between var. eclecteum and R. selense. This natural hybrid may be recognized by its paler flowers, shorter calyces and longer petioles. Plants with yellow flowers, but otherwise resembling R. eclecteum occur in the cultivation. It is not clear what status these have.