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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
Recommended citation
'Rhododendron sperabiloides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Dwarf shrub, 1–1.5 m. Leaves 5.5.-6.5 × 1.8–2.5 cm, elliptic, lower surface with a floecose discontinuous rufous tomentum composed of ramiform to sub-rosulate hairs, epidermis green, not papillate; petioles slightly winged, floccose-tomentose. Flowers 4–5, in a tight truss; calyx 4–7 mm, cupular; corolla fleshy, crimson to deep red, tubular-campanulate, 25–35 mm; ovary more or less abruptly contracted to tapering into the glabrous style. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)
Distribution China SE Tibet
Habitat 3,650–3,950 m
RHS Hardiness Rating H5
Awards AM 1933 (L. de Rothschild, Exbury); flowers lustrous deep crimson.
Conservation status Vulnerable (VU)
This species is intermediate between R. sperabile and related species, with the ovary tapering into the style, and the remaining species in the subsection, with the ovary abruptly contracted into the style. This may indicate a hybrid origin for R. sperabiloides. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)