Rhododendron tsusiophyllum Sugim.

Dwarf shrub, to c.0.3 m; young shoots covered with adpressed flattened bristles. Leaves of one kind, 1–1.2 × 0.5–0.7 cm, obovate, apex acute, upper surface glabrous when mature, lower surface with a few bristles on the midrib, otherwise glabrous; petioles covered with bristles. Pedicels apparently hairy. Flowers 1–4 per inflorescence; calyx minute; corolla pink in bud, fading to white, tubular-campanulate, c.10 mm; stamens (4–)5; ovary covered with bristles, style glabrous. Flowering July. Royal Horticultural Society 1997.

A spreading semi-evergreen shrub to about 11⁄2 ft high, its short, whorled branchlets clad with appressed bristly hairs. Leaves ovate to lanceolate or oblanceolate, up to 3⁄4 in. long and 1⁄4 in. or slightly more wide, clustered at the ends of the branchlets, appressed-hairy on both sides, more so above. Flowers white, shortly stalked, borne in June in terminal umbellate clusters or sometimes solitary; bud-scales brown and papery. Calyx very small. Corolla tubular, about 3⁄8 in. long, and about 1⁄4 in. wide across the spreading five-lobed limb, downy on the outside, silky-hairy within. Stamens five, included. Fruit a capsule, resembling that of a rhododendron but with three-chambers only. Bean 1981

Distribution  Japan S Honshu and adjacent Islands

Habitat c. 500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H4

Conservation status Least concern (LC)