柔毛碎米花 rou mao sui mi hua

Rhododendron mollicomum var. rockii Tagg.

Multi-branched shrubs, 0.3–2 m tall; old branches gray, turning glabrous; young shoots sparsely brownish scaly, dirty white-pubescent. Petiole ca. 4 mm, densely pubescent; leaf blade thickly leathery, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, 1.6–4.5 × 0.5–1.5 cm; base cuneate; margin revolute; apex obtuse or acuminate, apiculate; abaxial surface densely scaly, densely pubescent, hairs spreading along central vein; adaxial surface densely pubescent; midrib raised abaxially, concave adaxially. Inflorescence subterminal, 1- or 2-flowered; bud scales persistent. Pedicel 0.5–0.8 cm, sparsely scaly and densely pubescent; calyx shallowly cup-shaped, without conspicuous lobes, small, abaxially scaly and densely pubescent; corolla pale to deep red, 2–2.7 cm, tube slightly curved, 10–13 mm, outer surface glabrous, lobes spreading, outer surface sparsely scaly; stamens 10, unequal, slightly exserted from corolla; filaments glabrous at base, pubescent at middle; ovary 5-locular, scaly, densely white-pubescent; style exserted from corolla, basal 1/3 pubescent. Capsule cylindric, 7–12 mm, scaly, pubescent. Fl. (Mar–) Jun–Jul.

Coniferous and Quercus forests in river valleys, thickets on slopes; ca. 2300 m. SW Sichuan, NW Yunnan.