匍匐杜鹃 pu fu du juan

Rhododendron porphyrophyllum I. B. Balfour & Forrest; R. serpens I. B. Balfour & Forrest.

Dwarf shrubs, 0.05–0.5 m tall; branchlets 3–3.8 mm in diam. below inflorescence; young shoots densely floccose-tomentose; bud scales persistent. Petiole 5–10 mm, sparsely floccose-tomentose; leaf blade leathery, elliptic to narrowly elliptic or oblong-ovate to oblanceolate, 1.5–4(–6.2) × 0.5–1.1(–2) cm; base cuneate, decurrent along petioles; apex obtuse, apiculate; abaxial surface purple or green, whitish tomentose and with a few glandular hairs, especially on the midrib; adaxial surface green, slightly rugose, glabrous, midrib grooved adaxially; lateral veins 7–11(–12)-paired. Inflorescence umbellate, (1–)3- or 4-flowered. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, sparsely tomentose and glandular; calyx saucer-shaped, fleshy; lobes 5, ca. 2 mm, puberulent; corolla tubular-campanulate, pale rose, 2.2–3 cm, with 5 nectar pouches at base; lobes 5, rounded, emarginate; stamens 10, 1–1.3 cm, filaments pubescent at base; ovary conoid, ca. 3 mm, densely floccose-tomentose, intermixed with glandular hairs; style ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous. Capsule not known. Fl. Jul.

Rocky alpine meadows; 3900–4300 m. SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.