猩红杜鹃 xing hong du juan

Shrubs, 1.5–4 m tall; young shoots and petioles glabrous. Petiole 10–25 mm; leaf blade leathery, oblong-ovate to obovate, 6–11 × 4.5–7 cm; base rounded or slightly cordate; apex rounded, apiculate; abaxial surface densely fulvous woolly, hairs fasciculate; adaxial surface glossy, glabrous. Inflorescence compactly racemose-umbellate, 8–14-flowered; rachis 10–20 mm. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, glabrous; calyx red, 1–2 mm, glabrous; corolla tubular-campanulate, fleshy, scarlet to blood-red, unspotted, 2–3.5 cm, with 5 dark red nectar pouches at base inside; lobes 5; stamens unequal, 1–2.2 cm, filaments white, or tinted pink at base, glabrous; ovary conical, 4–5 mm, glabrous; style slightly curved upwards, tinted pink, 1.5–1.7 cm, glabrous. Capsule narrowly elongate-cylindric, slightly curved, 5-valved, 10–30 × 4–8 mm. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Aug.

Rhododendron thickets, mountains; 3700–4500 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal, Sikkim].