羊毛杜鹃 yang mao du juan

Rhododendron aemulorum I. B. Balfour.

Shrubs or small trees, evergreen, 3–6(–8) m tall; older branches glabrous; branchlets stout, usually 7–9 mm in diam.; young shoots densely ferruginous-tomentose. Petiole stout, 15–27 mm, densely tomentose; leaf blade leathery, broadly oblanceolate or obovate, 7–14 × 4–7.5 cm; base obtuse; margin revolute; apex rounded, apiculate; abaxial surface densely rufous woolly-tomentose; adaxial surface dark green, rugose, midrib tomentose, otherwise glabrous; lateral veins 10–12-paired, deeply grooved. Inflorescence 7–14-flowered; rachis 10–15 mm, densely tomentose. Pedicel 1–1.3 cm, tomentose; calyx lobes 5, 1.8–3 mm, ferruginous-tomentose; corolla tubular-campanulate, fleshy, crimson, ca. 4 cm, with 5 dark basal nectar pouches, lobes 5; stamens 10, unequal, 2.2–3.2 cm, filaments red at base, glabrous; ovary ovoid, ca. 7 mm, densely rufous-tomentose; style ca. 2.3 cm, glabrous; stigma small. Capsule cylindric, oblique, slightly curved, 10–20 × 5–6 mm, with a persistent tomentum. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Oct.

Forests, Rhododendron thickets, rocky gullies; 3000–3700 m. W Yunnan [NE Myanmar].