Rhododendron pentandrum (Maxim.) Craven

Sponsor

Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron pentandrum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-pentandrum/). Accessed 2025-05-21.

Family

Ericaceae

Genus

Rhododendron

Synonyms

Menziesia pentandra Maxim.

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.
ciliate: Fringed with long hairs.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular: Bearing glands.
umbel: Inflorescence in which pedicels all arise from same point on peduncle. May be flat-topped (as in e.g. Umbelliferae) to spherical (as in e.g. Araliaceae). umbellate In form of umbel.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron pentandrum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-pentandrum/). Accessed 2025-05-21.

Editorial Note

Formerly included in the small genus Menziesia, and treated under that name by Bean. Except for the subspheroidal capsule shape (in Rhododendron capsules are longer than wide) there was little morphologically to separate Menziesia from Rhododendron, and molecular analysis showed the genus to be nested within Rhododendron (Craven 2011).

Bean noted that the ‘menziesias’ succeed under the same treatment as rhododendrons but enjoy more sunshine; a moist, well-drained, lime-free, loamy or peaty soil suits them. The Japanese species grow slowly and are quite suitable for the large rock garden.’

A deciduous shrub up to 4 ft high, with an often bi- or tri-furcate mode of branching; young shoots slender, bristly. Leaves narrowly oval, tapered at both ends, margined with hairs, bristly above, less so beneath, 1 to 2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide; stalk about 1⁄8 in. long, bristly. Flowers nodding, a few in an umbel, each on a slender, sparsely glandular stalk 1⁄2 to 1 in. long. Corolla roundish urn-shaped, 1⁄4 in. long, dull greenish white, five-lobed. Stamens five, glabrous. Calyx five-lobed, ciliate.

Native of Japan and Sakhalin; introduced about 1905, originally named in 1867. It is one of the least attractive of the ‘menziesias’, abundantly distinct from the other Asiatic species in having only five stamens, which are glabrous.

Contact the editors at