黔阳杜鹃 qian yang du juan

Small shrubs; young shoots slender, densely coarsely yellowish silky-strigose. Petiole 2–3 mm, coarsely strigose; leaf blade papery, elliptic or elliptic-oblong, 1–3(–4) × 0.7–2.3 cm; base broadly cuneate, rarely subrounded; margin slightly revolute; apex acuminate and mucronate; both surfaces coarsely yellowish silky-strigose; adaxial surface later subglabrous. Inflorescence ca. 10-flowered. Pedicel 0.3–0.5 cm; calyx lobes obsolete; corolla funnel-campanulate, purplish, with purple flecks, 1–1.3 cm; tube cylindric, ca. 7 × 3–3.5 mm, outer surface glandular-hairy, inner surface puberulent; lobes subobovate, ca. 0.6 × 0.45 cm; stamens 5, unequal, 1.2–1.5 cm, some longer than style, filaments flat, glabrous; ovary conical, ca. 3 mm, densely yellowish silky-strigose; style ca. 1.2 cm, coarsely strigose. Capsule conical, ca. 5 × 4 mm, coarsely strigose. Fl. May.

Dense mountain forests, thickets; 1100–1200 m. W Hunan.

Based on the original description and a digital image of the type, this species appears closely allied to, and is probably synonymous with, Rhododendron seniavinii.