Rhododendron eclecteum Balf.f. & Forre

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)