Kindly sponsored by
Peter Norris, enabling the use of The Rhododendron Handbook 1998
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Rhododendron tschonoskii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
A semi-evergreen azalea 2 ft or perhaps more high, with rather horizontal branches, the young shoots covered with appressed, dark brown, linear bristles pointing towards the end of the shoot. Leaves in a tuft at the end of the twig, 1⁄3 to 11⁄2 in. long, 1⁄6 to 5⁄8 in. wide, oval, tapering and pointed, upper surface dull, dark green, lower one pale, both covered with bristly hairs. Flowers produced two to six together, each on a bristly stalk so short that the flower is almost hidden in the tuft of leaves. Calyx minute, covered with bristles. Corolla white, about 1⁄2 in. across, funnel-shaped. Stamens five. Ovary densely clad with brown bristles; style glabrous. (s. Azalea ss. Obtusum)
Native of Japan, Sakhalin, and Korea; introduced by Maries in 1878. This curious little azalea is only worth cultivating for the orange-red of its fading leaves. The flowers are insignificant.