阿里山杜鹃 a li shan du juan

Rhododendron nankotaisanense Hayata; R. pseudochrysanthum var. nankotaisanense (Hayata) T. Yamazaki.

Low shrubs, 0.5–3 m tall; older branches shoots pale gray-brown, glabrous; young shoots gray tomentose, mixed with glandular hairs. Petiole 10–20 mm, densely tomentose, also glandular-hairy; leaf blade rigid, oblong-lanceolate or ovate-elliptic, 4–8 × 1.5–3.5 cm; base rounded; apex acute or acuminate; abaxial surface pale green, ± persistently floccose, tomentose; adaxial surface dark green, grayish floccose and glandular-hairy, glabrescent; midrib raised abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral veins 15-paired. Inflorescence 5–10-flowered; rachis 10–20 mm. Pedicel 2–2.5 cm, sparsely glandular-hairy; calyx teeth 5, 1–2 mm, triangular, margin glandular; corolla campanulate, pink, with deeper rose lines outside and crimson flecks within, 3–4 cm, lobes 5, obovate, ca. 1.5 cm; stamens 10, 1–2 cm, filaments pubescent at base; ovary conoid, ca. 5 mm, densely glandular; style ca. 3 cm, glabrous or glandular for 1/3 of its length; stigma swollen. Capsule ca. 20 × 5 mm with persistent glands and style. Fr. Jul.

Forests; 3000–3200 m. Taiwan.

Authors from Taiwan include this variety within Rhododendron morii, with which it apparently intergrades in the wild. However, the two taxa remain distinct in cultivation.