Rhododendron triflorum Hook. f.

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R bauhiniiflorum Watt ex Hutch

Very closely allied to R. triflorum but with more widely expanded flowers. Native of Assam in the Naga Hills and Manipur; discovered by Sir George Watt in 1881–2 but probably not introduced until Kingdon Ward sent seeds from Mt Japvo in 1928. It is a finer species than R. triflorum and almost as good as R. lutescens, besides being very much later-flowering. There is a fine clump in the Savill Garden, Windsor Great Park, which is about 10 ft high and was in flower in the fourth week of May in 1973.

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var. bauhiniiflorum (Watt ex Hutch.) Cullen

The two varieties recognized here are distinguished only by the shape of the corolla. They apparently have different geographical distributions. Royal Horticultural Society (1997)

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var. mahogani Hutch

This was found by Kingdon Ward in the Tibetan province of Kongbo, near Tsela Dzong on the Tsangpo, growing with the typical state. ‘Another rhododendron which grew here to perfection was R. triflorum and its dark variety, which I called the “Mahogany Triflorum” (K.W. 5687). In the valley it is a small compact scrubby plant with lemon-yellow flowers; but on these sheltered tree-clad slopes it formed a large bush 12 or 15 ft high with reddened flowers which were especially beautiful when the light shone through them…. The flowers vary from pale yellow – the typical R. triflorum colour – to salmon pink, mahogany, burnt sienna, and other tones. Moreover, the bushes were smothered in bloom and are as hardy as anything’ (Kingdon Ward, The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges, p. 44). This variety sounded promising, but proved a sad disappointment when it first flowered in gardens. ‘Was the dingy horror under the number KW 5687 shown in the Triflorum Class, was this the Mahogany Triflorum we have so anxiously awaited ?’(G. H. Johnstone in his Report on the Rhododendron Show for 1931).

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var. triflorum