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Rhododendron traillianum Forrest & W.W.Sm.

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Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998

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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

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'Rhododendron traillianum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-traillianum/). Accessed 2024-09-11.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

Credits

New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron traillianum' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-traillianum/). Accessed 2024-09-11.

Rhododendron traillianum

Rhododendron traillianum CHM 2639, from the Lijiang Range, Sichuan, in 1986. (Yorkshire Arboretum, April 2021) Image John Grimshaw.

Shrub or small tree, 0.6–8 m. Leaves 7–13 × 3–6.5 cm, obovate to elliptic, apex apiculate to acuminate, lower surface covered in a one-layered indumentum composed of radiate hairs that is either rust-red and powdery or brown and matted; petioles floccose. Flowers 6–15, in a dense truss; calyx c.1 mm; corolla white, sometimes flushed rose, with crimson flecks, funnel-campanulate, nectar pouches lacking, 25–45 mm; ovary glabrous or sparsely red-brown-tomentose, style glabrous. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  China SE Tibet, W Yunnan, SW Sichuan

Habitat 3,350–4,550 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H7

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Rhododendron traillianum

Rhododendron traillianum CHM 2639 (Yorkshire Arboretum, June 2022). Image John Grimshaw.

Rhododendron traillianum

Rhododendron traillianum CHM 2639 (Yorkshire Arboretum, June 2022). Image John Grimshaw.

Rhododendron traillianum

Foliage of Rhododendron traillianum (University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Vancouver, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

var. dictyotum (Balf.f. ex Tagg) D.F.Chamb.

Synonyms
R. dictyotum Balf.f. ex Tagg

Leaf indumentum composed of radiate hairs with long ribbon-like arms; corolla (35–)45 mm. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution

  • China – SE Tibet, NW Yunnan

Awards
AM 1965 (E. de Rothschild, Exbury) to a clone 'Kathmandu', as R. dictyotum; flowers white, with a crimson blotch and crimson spots.

This species is closely allied to R. phaeochrysum but may be distinguished by the leaf indumentum. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Rhododendron traillianum var. dictyotum

Rhododendron traillianum var. dictyotum, in the guise of the cultivar 'Kathmandu', flowering at Exbury, Hampshire, UK. 05 May 2015. Image John Anderson.

var. traillianum

Leaf indumentum composed of radiate hairs with short pyriform arms; corolla 25–35mm.

Distribution China (W Yunnan, SW Sichuan).

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