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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
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'Rhododendron lyi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Shrub, to 2 m; young shoots with persistent setae. Leaves 7–8 × 2.5–3 cm, narrowly obovate, apex bluntly acute, margin with or without bristles, upper surface with impressed midrib, lower surface brown, with dense, but not touching, scales. Flowers (2–)3–4, in a loose terminal inflorescence, scented; calyx lobes 1–2 mm, usually fringed with setae; corolla white, funnel-campanulate, 45–60 mm, outer surface scaly throughout; stamens 10; ovary densely scaly, tapering into the style which is scaly below. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).
Distribution China Guizhou Laos Vietnam
Habitat 1,400–2,200 m
RHS Hardiness Rating H3
Conservation status Least concern (LC)
This species, which is rare in cultivation, is allied to R. ciliicalyx and to R. roseatum, but differs in the more persistent setae on the young stems. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)