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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
Recommended citation
'Rhododendron leptocarpum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Usually an epiphytic shrub, to 2 m; young shoots scaly, glabrous. Leaves 5.5–7.5 × 1.8–2.5 cm, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, apex rounded, mucronate, lower surface papillose, scales close, yellow, unequal, the smaller sunk in pits, their rims upturned. Pedicels thin, 25–35 mm, scaly; Flowers 4–10 per inflorescence; calyx lobes 2–5 mm, well-developed, spreading or reflexed; corolla yellow, campanulate, 9–13 mm; tube 4–6 mm, scaly outside, hairy within; stamens 10, regular; ovary scaly, tapering into the decimate style. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)
Distribution Bhutan Myanmar NE China NW Yunnan, S Tibet India Arunachal Pradesh
Habitat 2,450–3,350(–4,300) m
RHS Hardiness Rating H5
Conservation status Least concern (LC)
Taxonomic note (incl. R. micromeres Tagg) Royal Horticultural Society (1997)
A distinctive species, without close relatives. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)