An evergreen azalea, stiffly branched, bushy, probably up to 6 ft high, the branchlets having the dark forward-pointing bristles of this group. Leaves 1 to 3 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄2 in. wide; oblanceolate, or oval, tapered at the base, terminated by a short mucro; glabrous and dark green above, paler and with dark appressed hairs like those of the stem beneath and on the margins; stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Flowers up to six in a cluster, on hairy pedicels. Calyx with rounded or obtuse lobes, glandular-ciliate and appressed-hairy, up to 1⁄4 in. long, occasionally longer and acute. Corolla rose-red to scarlet, with darker markings on the upper lobes, broadly funnel-shaped, up to almost 4 in. across, the lobes five, rounded at the apex. Stamens ten, nearly as long as the corolla, downy towards the base. Ovary clad with appressed bristly hairs and glands; style glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 8478. (s. and ss. Obtusum)
Native of the Ryukyu Archipelago, commonest, according to Wilson, in the Okinawa group of islands and on Takuno island. It is not a native of Japan proper, but is cultivated in the southern parts of the country. It was introduced by Messrs Notcutt about 1909 and received an Award of Merit when they exhibited it at the Temple Show in 1911. The seedlings raised by them varied much in colour. Its best forms are some of the richest coloured of all azaleas, but it is not very hardy, and needs a warmer climate than that of Kew.