Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
Recommended citation
'Rhododendron semnoides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Shrub, 4–6 m; bark rough. Leaves up to 24 × 11.5 cm, obovate-lanceolate, upper surface reticulate, lower surface covered with a two-layered undumentum, the upper layer loosely tomentose, whitish to buff, composed of strongly fimbriate, narrowly cup-shaped hairs, the lower compacted; petioles more or less flattened. Flowers c.15, in a dense truss, white flushed rose, obliquely campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 40–50 mm; stamens 16; ovary densely brownish-tomentose. Flowering March-April. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).
Distribution China SE Tibet, NW Yunnan
Habitat 3,700–4,000 m
RHS Hardiness Rating H4
Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)
R. semnoides may have been derived as a hybrid between R. praestans and R. arizelum; plants in the wild presumed to be of that parentage are a good match. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).