Rhododendron souliei Franch.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron souliei' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-souliei/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Rhododendron cordatum Lévl.

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.
flush
Coordinated growth of leaves or flowers. Such new growth is often a different colour to mature foliage.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.
truncate
Appearing as if cut off.
viscid
Sticky.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron souliei' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-souliei/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Shrub. 1–2–5 m. Leaves 5.5–8 × 3.5–4 cm, broadly ovate, base rounded to cordate, glabrous. Flowers 3–5, in lax trusses, pale purplish pink (? rarely white), open-campanulate (saucer-shaped), nectar pouches lacking, 25–40 mm; ovary and style densely stalked-glandular. Flowering May-June. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  China Sichuan

Habitat 3,000–3,800 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H6

Awards FCC 1909 (Messrs J. Veitch, Chelsea); flowers pale rose, deeper towards margin. FCC 1936 (L. de Rothschild, Exbury) to a clone 'Exbury Pink'; flowers a deeper shade of pink. FCC 1951 (Crown Estate Commissioners, Windsor) to a clone 'Windsor Park'; flowers white, with pink flush, deepening at margins, three upper lobes stained at base with a small crimson blotch.

Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)

Taxonomic note This species may be distinguished from R. callimorphum by the generally larger leaves, the more open flowers and the glandular style. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

An evergreen bush 5 to 10 ft high; young shoots purplish, they and flower-stalks glandular and viscid. Leaves 2 to 312 in long, 1 to 2 in. wide; broadly ovate, with a heart-shaped or truncate base and a blunt, glandular tip, of a distinct glaucous, somewhat metallic hue, quite glabrous on both surfaces; stalk glandular when young, 12 to 34 in. long. Flowers in a terminal cluster, about six in each, opening in May; pedicels 112 to 2 in. long. Calyx up to 14 in. long, glandular at least on the margins of the lobes, sometimes throughout. Corolla very open and saucer-shaped, five- or six-lobed, soft rosy pink or white flushed with pink, 2 to 3 in. across. Stamens eight or ten. Ovary glandular; style glandular to the tip. Bot. Mag., t. 8622. (s. Thomsonii ss. Souliei)

Native of W. Szechwan; discovered by the French missionary Soulié near Kangting (Tatsienlu) and introduced by Wilson in 1903 when collecting for Messrs Veitch and also cultivated from the seeds he sent a few years later, during his first expedition for the Arnold Arboretum. Some of the plants raised at Kew flowered when only four years old. It is a very hardy rhododendron, best planted in open woodland or slight shade, as it needs plenty of light if it is to flower freely. It is also one of the most beautiful, with flowers of exquisite shape and colouring set off by foliage of a rich sea-green. It has been awarded a First Class Certificate on three occasions. The first went to a plant 9 in. high, shown by Messrs Veitch on May 18, 1909; flowers bright rose suffused on a paler ground. The second was given to a form with flowers of a deeper pink, shown from Exbury on May 19, 1936, under the name ‘Exbury Pink’. The third award was to ‘Windsor Park’, shown by the Crown Estate Commissioners, Windsor Great Park, on May 22, 1951; truss of nine flowers, white with a pink flush deepening at the margins, and with a small crimson blotch at the base of the three upper lobes.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

R. puralbum, mentioned here on page 774, is transferred to R. wardii as var. puralbum (Rev. 2, p. 266).


R puralbum Balf. f. & W. W. Sm

Flowers pure white, otherwise not differing botanically from R. souliei. It was introduced by Forrest in 1913 from the mountains in the north-east of the Yangtse bend, and was discovered by him. A plant from the original introduction (F. 10616) flowers freely in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden, but the species is rare in gardens.