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Rhododendron paradoxum Balf. f.

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Credits

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

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

Infraspecifics

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.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
campanulate
Bell-shaped.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
herbarium
A collection of preserved plant specimens; also the building in which such specimens are housed.
hybrid
Plant originating from the cross-fertilisation of genetically distinct individuals (e.g. two species or two subspecies).
indumentum
A covering of hairs or scales.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
obtuse
Blunt.
petiole
Leaf stalk.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

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

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

Probably a chance hybrid of R. wiltonii (Subsect. Taliensia). It was raised at Edinburgh from seed as Wilson 1353, herbarium specimens of which are referrable to R. wiltonii. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

A dense evergreen shrub up to 8 ft high; young branchlets densely white-scurfy; terminal leaf-buds elongate, their outer scales woolly, awl-shaped, with curved tips, much longer than the inner scales. Leaves oblong, 2 to 5 in. long, 11⁄4 to 2 in. wide, obtuse to rounded and abruptly mucronate at the apex, rounded to obtuse at the base, upper surface rugulose, glabrous, lower pale green with a patchy and scurfy grey or brown indumentum, midrib and lateral veins prominent; petiole about 1 in. long. Flowers about eight in a cluster, opening in April or May; pedicels about 1 in. long, hairy. Calyx minute, hairy. Corolla five-lobed, campanulate, about 13⁄4 in. long, white with lines of crimson speckles uniting at the base into a crimson blotch. Stamens ten, with dark anthers, filaments downy at the base. Ovary cylindric, densely hairy; style glabrous. (s. Taliense ss. Wasonii)

R. paradoxum was described in 1922 from a plant raised from Wilson’s 1353, collected during his first expedition for the Arnold Arboretum. But the herbarium specimen under that number is R. wiltonii, and so too were many of the plants raised from this batch of seed. R. paradoxum is certainly distinct from R. wiltonil, which has a much thicker indumentum and differently shaped leaves, but might be a hybrid of it.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

Probably a natural hybrid of R. wiltonii (Rev. 2, p. 431).

R. inopinum – Probably a natural hybrid of R. wasonii (Rev. 2, l.c.).

R inopinum Balf. f

Resembling R. paradoxum, but the terminal leaf-buds not as described above, and the leaves above only faintly rugulose. This too appeared as a rogue among plants raised from seeds collected by Wilson. The packet was labelled W.1866, but the corresponding herbarium specimen is a species of Lonicera. Some of the plants raised from this batch proved to be R. wasonii.

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