爆杖花 bao zhang hua

Shrubs, 0.5–1(–3.5) m tall; old branches brownish red, nearly glabrous; young shoots gray-pubescent, also hispid. Petiole 3–6 mm, ± pubescent, setose or scaly; leaf blade papery, obovate, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or lanceolate, 3–10.5 × 1.8–3.8 cm; base cuneate; apex acuminate, rarely acute, apiculate; abaxial surface paler, glabrous, sometimes sparsely pubescent along veins, to densely dirty white-pubescent and scaly; adaxial surface yellowish green, glabrous or pubescent; veins conspicuously raised abaxially. Inflorescence subterminal, 2–4-flowered; bud scales white-pubescent and densely scaly outside. Pedicel 2–1 cm, densely pubescent and scaly; calyx shallowly cup-shaped, without conspicuous lobes, small; corolla tubular, narrowed at both ends, bright or orange red, 1.5–2.5 cm; outer surface glabrous, rarely pubescent at lobe base; lobes 5, erect, ovate; stamens 10, unequal, slightly exserted from corolla; filaments glabrous, anthers purplish black; ovary 5-locular, scaly, densely hairy; style exserted from corolla, usually glabrous, rarely pubescent at base. Capsule cylindric, 10–14 mm, scaly, pubescent. Fl. Feb–Jun.

Keteleeria and other coniferous forests, coniferous-Quercus mixed forests, valley thickets; 1900–2500 m. SW Sichuan, NE and W Yunnan.

Lower Taxa

• Rhododendron spinuliferum var. glabrescens K. M. Feng ex R. C. Fang
• Rhododendron spinuliferum var. spinuliferum