桂海杜鹃 gui hai du juan

Trees, 7–8 m tall; young shoots ca. 4 mm in diam., tomentose, glabrescent. Petiole stout, 1–2.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade leathery, oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate-elliptic, 8–12(–16) × 3–4.5(–5.5) cm; base broadly cuneate; apex acute, mucronate; abaxial surface green, glabrous; adaxial surface pale green, glabrous; midrib prominent abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral veins 13–16-paired. Inflorescence 5–8-flowered; rachis 10–20 mm, glabrous. Pedicel 1–2 cm, glabrous; calyx minute, discoid, 5-lobed, glabrous; corolla broadly campanulate, white to rose, with purple flecks and a blotch at base, 3–4.5 cm, outer surface glabrous; inner surface puberulent towards base; stamens 12–16, 1.5–3 cm, filaments puberulent below; ovary conoid, ca. 5 mm, glabrous; style ca. 2.5 cm, glabrous, stigma capitate, ca. 3 mm in diam. Capsule not known. Fl. Apr–May.

Forests; 1100–1400 m. Guangxi.

The present authors have seen no material of this species. Like Rhododendron praevernum, it has a purple blotch at the base of the inner surface of the corolla. However, it differs from that species in having flowers and leaves generally smaller and fewer flowers per inflorescence.