Rhododendron gymnocarpum Balf. f. & Tagg

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Credits

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

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

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.
inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
campanulate
Bell-shaped.
cuneate
Wedge-shaped.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
indumentum
A covering of hairs or scales.
obtuse
Blunt.
petiole
Leaf stalk.
rachis
Central axis of an inflorescence cone or pinnate leaf.

References

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Credits

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

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

Conservation status Data deficient (DD)

An evergreen shrub up to 4 ft high; shoots slender, floccose when young and slightly glandular. Leaves leathery, oblong-elliptic, or broadest slightly above or below the middle, up to 4 in. long and 112 in. wide, obtuse at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, dark green and glabrous above, lower surface glandular and coated with a fawn-coloured felt; petiole very short. Inflorescence a loose truss of three to ten flowers, opening in April; rachis very short; pedicels about 58 in. long. Calyx minute. Corolla broadly campanulate, about 1 in. deep and twice as wide, claret-red to deep vivid crimson, with darker markings on the upper side, five-lobed. Stamens ten, filaments downy at the base. Ovary conoid, glabrous, or almost so.

This species was found by Forrest in S.E. Tibet under Ka-kar-po on the Mekong-Salween divide in 1918, and introduced by him the same year. It is an anomalous species, originally placed in series Taliense, subseries Roxieanum, though Dr Cowan pointed out that the leaf-indumentum is uncharacteristic of that group and very like that of R. citriniflorum (s. Neriiflorum ss. Sanguineum). It received an Award of Merit when shown from Exbury on April 30, 1940. R. microgynum Balf. f. & Forr., also from Ka-kar-po, is very closely allied, and was described earlier.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

United with the earlier-named R. microgynum.