华顶杜鹃 hua ding du juan

Shrubs, 1–4 m; branches of present year glabrous. Petiole ca. 10 mm, strigose and pubescent; leaf blade papery, ovate, ovate-elliptic, or elliptic, 6–10 × 3–6 cm; base broadly cuneate to rounded; margin serrulate, stoutly ciliate; apex acute; both surfaces yellowish pubescent, glabrescent; abaxial surface with lateral veins gray-tomentose; midrib impressed adaxially; lateral veins 10–12-paired. Inflorescence 2–4-flowered. Pedicel 1–2 cm, densely glandular-hairy; calyx small, glandular-hairy; corolla funnelform, pale purple or purplish red, upper lobes with purple spots at base, 4.5–5 cm, lobes 5, elliptic, 3–3.5 cm; stamens 10, 3–4.5 cm, glabrous; ovary ovoid, glabrous; style as long as corolla. Capsule ovoid, ca. 10 × 8 mm, glabrous. Fl. Apr, fr. Sep.

700–1000 m. Zhejiang.

This species differs from Rhododendron mariesii in the gray-tomentose lateral veins on the abaxial surface of the leaves, in the stipitate-glandular pedicels, and in the glabrous ovary and capsule.

After publication of the family treatment for the Flora of China, it was found to be necessary to validate the name because two types were cited in the original protologue (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 10(1): 31. 1990).