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Rhododendron sargentianum Rehd. & Wils.

Modern name

Rhododendron sargentianum Rehder & E.H. Wilson

A low evergreen shrub up to 2 ft high and 3 ft or more across, with numerous erect branches which, when young, are covered with down and dark scurf. Leaves aromatic when crushed, oval, 13 to 23 in. long, half as much wide; dark glossy green and soon glabrous above, very scurfy beneath; leaf-stalk about 18 in. long. Flowers produced in May, six to twelve together in a loose terminal cluster, each bloom on a stalk 15 to 38 in. long, thickly covered with yellowish scurf. Calyx about 18 in. long or shorter. Corolla pale yellow, 12 in. long and wide, the base a cylindrical tube hairy inside, spreading at the mouth into five lobes, scaly outside. Stamens five, glabrous, hidden in the corolla-tube. Ovary scaly; style shorter than the stamens. Bot. Mag., t. 8871 (s. Anthopogon)

Native of W. Szechwan in the Mupin area; discovered and introduced by Wilson in 1903-4 for Messrs Veitch, and again during his second expedition for the Arnold Arboretum. It grows at 11,000 to 13,000 ft, on rocks or cliffs, or forming heaths. It is a charming shrub of dwarf, compact habit, but does not flower very freely. It is very hardy. An Award of Merit was given to it in 1923 when shown from Bodnant on May 8 by Lady Aberconway and the Hon. H. D. McLaren.

cv. ‘Whitebait’. – Flowers nearly white, borne more freely than usual. Award of Merit May 6, 1960, when shown by E. H. M. and P. A. Cox, Glendoick, Perthshire.


Genus

Rhododendron

Other species in the genus