Rhododendron parmulatum Cowan

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Credits

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

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

Genus

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.
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.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
mucro
Short straight point. mucronate Bearing a mucro.
reflexed
Folded backwards.
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 parmulatum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-parmulatum/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Dwarf shrub, 0.6–3 m. Leaves 4.5–8 × 2–3.5 cm, obovate to elliptic, lower surface glabrous except for a few white hairs on the midrib and main veins; petioles glabrescent. Flowers 4–6, in a tight truss; calyx c.5 mm; corolla white or pale yellow flushed pink, occasionally red, with red flecks, tubular-campanulate, with nectar pouches, 40–50 mm; ovary with a few scattered hairs, abruptly contracted into the glabrous style. Flowering March-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

Distribution  China S Tibet

Habitat 3,000–3,700 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1977 (Maj. Gen. E.G.W.W. Harrison, Tremeer, Cornwall) to a clone 'Ocelot'; flowers yellow-green, lobes with a darker central band, upper throat heavily spotted with greyed purple. AM 1983 (Lord Aberconway and National Trust, Bodnant) to a clone Talma'; trusses loose, 3-7-flowered, corolla green-white, each lobe having a slightly deeper coloured central band, with heavy spotting of greyed purple in upper throat.

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

Taxonomic note The conspicuous red flecks on the corolla are an unusual feature in Subsect. Neriiflora. This is a rare species, both in cultivation, and in the wild. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

An evergreen shrub up to 3 or 4 ft high; young shoots glabrous; bark flaking, purplish brown. Leaves oval, rounded at the apex to a short mucro, almost similarly rounded at the base to the stalk, 112 to 214 in. long, about half as wide, glabrous above, loosely papillose beneath (not downy), stalk 15 to 25 in. long. Flowers in trusses of about six, on glabrous stalks 12 to 34 in. long. Calyx a flat, circular disk 12 in. or so wide. Corolla widely campanulate, 134 in. deep, 214 in. wide across the five bilobed, reflexed lobes which are 1 in. wide, white flushed pink, veined with crimson and with deeper-coloured pouches at the base. Stamens ten, shorter than the tube, anthers dark brown. Ovary glabrous; style glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 9624.

R. parmuiatum was discovered by Kingdon Ward in 1924 on the Doshong La, S.E. Tibet, at the eastern end of the Himalaya, and was introduced by him (KW 5875). Most of the cultivated plants are from this sending, perhaps all, but it was found again by Ludlow, Sherriff, and Elliot in 1946–7 (L.S. & E. 13612). It first flowered at Edinburgh and at Borde Hill in Sussex, in April 1936.

R. parmuiatum is an interesting and very distinct species, at present placed in the subseries Sanguineum of the Neriiflorum series, though it is unique in that group in the colour and markings of its flowers. It is hardy in a sheltered place near London.