Rhododendron fallacinum Sleumer

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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'Rhododendron fallacinum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-fallacinum/). Accessed 2024-10-12.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron fallacinum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-fallacinum/). Accessed 2024-10-12.

Shrub to 5 m, epiphytic or terrestrial, the young stems with a dense and persistent covering of dark brown scales. Leaves 9–16 × 3–5.5 cm, ovate, lanceolate or elliptic, the apex acute and often acuminate, the margin irregularly wavy but flat, the base rounded to auriculate; the upper surface at first densely silvery scaly with overlapping scales, only gradually becoming glabrescent, midrib slightly impressed in the basal half, smooth above, the laterals 8–12 pairs, smooth; the lower surface with the midrib strongly raised for most of its length, the laterals very slightly so, scales: brown, dense and overlapping, variable in size and very persistent. Flowers 15–35 per umbel, erect to horizontal; calyx a low densely scaly ring; corolla bright orange, shortly cylindrical to narrowly funnel-shaped, 1.8–2.5 × 3–3.7 cm, densely and conspicuously brown-scaly outside on the tube and up onto the lobes; stamens 10, arranged fairly regularly around the mouth of the flower; ovary densely brown-scaly; style densely scaly for 2–3 mm at the base, glabrous in the remaining part. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  Malaysia Sabah, Mt Kinabalu and Crocker Range to Mt Mulu and Mt Murud in Northern Sarawak

Habitat 1,200–2,500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H2

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

A variable species distinguished from the closely related R. durionifolium Becc. by its shorter, much more scaly flowers. One of the more challenging species in cultivation, tending to be rather slow. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)