多斑杜鹃 duo ban du juan

Rhododendron pankimense Cowan & Kingdon Ward; R. shepherdii Nuttall.

Small trees or shrubs, 1–3 m tall; older branches glabrous; young shoots stout, slightly floccose. Petiole cylindric, 10–15 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade subleathery, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 7–11 × 2–4 cm; base cuneate to rounded; margin revolute undulate; apex acuminate; abaxial surface woolly on midrib, otherwise glabrous; adaxial surface glabrous when mature; midrib prominent abaxially; lateral veins 17–24-paired, slightly raised abaxially, impressed adaxially. Inflorescence densely racemose-umbellate, 7–15-flowered; rachis 10–15 mm, densely tomentose. Pedicel 0.3–1 cm, puberulent; calyx discoid; lobes 5, minute, triangular, glabrous; corolla tubular-campanulate, fleshy, deep rose to scarlet, with dark flecks, 3–3.5 cm, with 5 nectar pouches at base, both surfaces glabrous, lobes ca. 1 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 1.5–2.2 cm, filaments glabrous; ovary cylindric-conoid, ca. 7 mm, sparsely strigose, eglandular; style ca. 2 cm, glabrous; stigma small. Capsule slightly curved, 15–25 × ca. 4 mm. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug–Oct.

Thickets, mixed forests on slopes; 2600–2700 m. E Xizang [Bhutan, NE India].