云锦杜鹃 yun jin du juan

?Rhododendron albicaule H. Léveillé.

Shrubs or small trees, 3–12 m tall; bark gray, falling off in flakes; young shoots green, glandular, glabrescent. Petiole cylindric, 18–40 mm, sparsely glandular-hairy when young; leaf blade thickly leathery, oblong to oblong-elliptic, 8–14.5 × 3–9.2 cm; base rounded or truncate, rarely cordulate; apex obtuse to rounded, rarely acute; abaxial surface pale green, glabrous except for persistent punctulate hair bases; adaxial surface dark green, shiny; midrib prominent abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral veins 14–16, flat abaxially, impressed adaxially. Inflorescence lax, 6–12-flowered; rachis 30–50 mm, glandular. Pedicel 2–3 cm, glandular-hairy; calyx lobes 7, ca. 1 mm, glandular and gland-fringed; corolla funnel-campanulate, fragrant, pink, 4.5–5.2 cm, outer surface glandular; lobes 7, obovate, 1.5–1.8 cm; apex undulate; stamens 14, unequal, 1.8–3 cm, filaments glabrous; ovary conoid, ca. 5 × 4.5 mm, densely glandular; style ca. 3 cm, glandular-hairy; stigma small. Capsule oblong, rough, 25–35 × 6–10 mm. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Oct.

Forests; 600–2000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, NE Yunnan, Zhejiang.

The type of Rhododendron albicaule (described from Zhejiang) is too poor to be certain of its identity, but it is probably referable to R. fortunei.