灰背杜鹃 hui bei du juan

Erect shrubs, 0.25–1(–1.5) m tall; branchlets virgate; bud scales deciduous. Petiole 2–5 mm, scaly; leaf blade oblong, elliptic, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, (0.8–)1.2–2.5(–4) × (0.4–)0.5–1(–1.7) cm; base broadly cuneate; apex rounded or obtuse; abaxial surface yellowish buff, scales overlapping, uniformly creamy yellow; adaxial surface pale green, scaly. Inflorescence 4–7(–8)-flowered. Pedicel 2.5–7 cm; calyx reddish, lobes 1–2 mm, rounded, unequal, persistent in fruit, scaly, margin ciliate; corolla broadly funnelform, bright rose or lavender-blue to bluish purple, rarely white, 1–1.3(–1.5) cm, tube ca. 4 mm, outer surface not scaly; inner surface pubescent; stamens (8–)10, shorter than corolla, filaments pubescent towards base; ovary 1–2.5 mm, scaly; style 0.4–1.6 cm, usually as long as stamens, glabrous or occasionally pubescent at base. Capsule narrowly ovoid, 5–6 mm, densely scaly. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Oct.

Picea and Pinus forests, Rhododendron thickets, moist stony pastures, open grassy marshes, open stony slopes; 2400–4800 m. SW Sichuan, C, N, and W Yunnan.

Lower Taxa

• Rhododendron hippophaeoides var. hippophaeoides
• Rhododendron hippophaeoides var. occidentale M. N. Philipson & Philipson