Rhododendron wiltonii Hemsl. & Wils.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron wiltonii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-wiltonii/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Genus

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
bullate
Puckered; with blister-like swellings on the surface.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Rhododendron wiltonii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/rhododendron/rhododendron-wiltonii/). Accessed 2024-03-19.

Shrub, 1.4.5 m. Leaves 5–12 × 1.5–4 cm, oblanceolate to broadly elliptic, apex apiculate, upper surface with deeply impressed veins so appearing bullate, lower surface with dense one-layered brown to rust-red indumentum composed of fasciculate to ramiform hairs; petioles tomentose at first, soon glabrescent. Flowers c.10, in a dense truss; calyx c.1 mm; corolla white to pink, with red flecks, campanulate, nectar pouches absent, 30–40 mm; ovary densely rust-red lanate tomentose, eglandular, style glabrous or hairy at base. Flowering April-May. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

Distribution  China C Sichuan, Guizhou

Habitat 2,250–3,500 m

RHS Hardiness Rating H5

Awards AM 1957 (E. de Rothschild, Exbury); flowers white, with a dark crimson blotch in throat, flushed pink externally.

Conservation status Least concern (LC)

Taxonomic note A distinctive species on account of its bullate leaves. Royal Horticultural Society (1997).

An evergreen shrub 5 to 12 ft high; young shoots clothed with a thick, brown wool. Leaves obovate, tapered at the base, abruptly narrowed at the apex to a short tip, 2 to 4 in. long, 34 to 114 in. wide, glossy green and deeply wrinkled above, thickly clothed beneath with brown wool; stalk about 12 in long. Flowers in clusters of about ten in April or May, on woolly pedicels up to 1 in. long. Corolla white or pink, speckled or blotched inside with crimson, bell-shaped, 114 in. deep, rather more wide, the five lobes almost erect. Stamens ten, shorter than the corolla, downy towards the base. Ovary covered with pale brown wool; style quite glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 9388. (s. Taliense ss. Wasonii)

Native of W. Szechwan, known from Mt Omei, the Washan, and the Mupin region; discovered by Wilson and introduced by him in 1904, for Messrs Veitch, and also cultivated from his no. 4264, collected during his second expedition for the Arnold Arboretum. With its striking leaves, on which the line of every vein is deeply etched, it is one of the most easily recognised of all rhododendrons. It is worth growing for these alone, but is also attractive in its flowers. It received an Award of Merit when shown by Edmund de Rothschild, Exbury, on March 30, 1957 (flowers white with a crimson blotch, flushed with pink on the outside).