海绵杜鹃 hai mian du juan

Shrubs or small trees, 4–9 m tall; bark gray or brownish gray, branchlets stout, ca. 4 mm in diam. below inflorescences. Petiole 10–20 mm, glabrescent when mature; leaf blade leathery, lanceolate or oblanceolate, 9–15 × 2.5–3.8 cm; base cuneate to subrounded; apex obtuse to acute; abaxial surface indumentum white, compacted; adaxial surface light green, glabrous; midrib prominent abaxially, impressed adaxially; lateral veins 12–16-paired, blunt on both surfaces. Inflorescence 12–22-flowered; rachis 10–20 mm, pubescent. Pedicel 2–4 cm, white-floccose; calyx lobes 5, ca. 5 mm; corolla funnel-campanulate, pinkish or rose, 3–3.5 cm, lobes 5, ca. 1 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 0.8–1.5 cm, filaments slender, glabrous; ovary oblong-cylindric, ca. 5 mm, 8-locular, brownish tomentose; style 1–1.5 cm, glabrous. Capsule cylindric, slightly curved, 20–30 × ca. 5 mm, glabrous. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Sep–Oct.

Forests; 2300–2700 m. SW Sichuan.