茶花杜鹃 cha hua du juan

Shrubs, 1–2 m tall; young shoots densely scaly. Leaf blade leathery, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 8–10 × 2.5–3.5 cm; base cuneate; apex obtuse or acute, apiculate; abaxial surface scales contiguous, overlapping or ca. 0.5 × their own diameter apart, rust-colored; adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely scaly. Inflorescence terminal, 2-flowered. Pedicel stout, densely scaly; calyx lobes ca. 6 mm, broadly ovate, persistent in fruit, sparsely scaly at base; corolla thick, white tinged with pale red, 1.5–2.5 × ca. 3 cm, tube short and broad, outer surface sparsely scaly, inner surface with a circle of hairs; lobes spreading; ovary scaly; style stout, strongly deflexed, glabrous. Capsule cylindric, ca. 13 mm.

Broad-leaved forests, rocks. S Xizang [Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sikkim].