泡泡叶杜鹃 pao pao ye du juan

Rhododendron bullatum Franchet.

Shrubs, evergreen, often epiphytic, (0.3–)1(–5.6) m tall; indumentum dark orange to pale beige-brown. Petiole 5–25 mm; leaf blade leathery, ovate-elliptic, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 4–16 × 2–6 cm; base rounded; apex acuminate or shortly acuminate; abaxial surface densely brown or fawn, woolly, scales dense, very small, rather equal, pale brown; adaxial surface strongly bullate, glabrous. Inflorescence 1–3-flowered. Flowers fragrant. Pedicel 1–2 cm, densely woolly; calyx red or tinged red, deeply 5-lobed; lobes 11–17 mm, oblong, ovate or rounded, unequal, persisting to enclose mature capsule, scales present on margin and abaxially, also densely woolly; corolla funnelform-campanulate, white, sometimes flushed pink and/or with a yellow blotch at base, 3.4–7.5 cm; tube 25–35 mm; outer surface scaly; inner surface glabrous; stamens 10, unequal, filaments densely pilose below; ovary densely woolly, sparsely scaly; style straight, ca. as long as corolla, base scaly and woolly. Capsule cylindric-ovate or globose, 10–22 mm, scaly, densely woolly. Fl. Apr–Jun, fr. Nov.

Dense forests, cliffs, rocks, often epiphytic; 2000–4000 m. SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, C and NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Myanmar, Sikkim].