线裂杜鹃 xian lie du juan

Shrubs, ca. 1.5 m tall; older branches grayish; young shoots green, glabrous. Petiole ca. 15 mm, glabrous; leaf blade leathery, elliptic, ca. 7 × 3.5 cm; base rounded; apex obtuse or rounded, apiculate; abaxial surface glabrous though with brown punctate glands; adaxial surface glabrous; midrib prominent and raised abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral veins ca. 10-paired, flat on both surfaces. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 5–8-flowered; rachis ca. 6 mm, glabrous. Pedicel 2–2.6 cm, glabrous or sparsely glandular; calyx lobes 5, 5–8 × 1.5–2 mm, linear-lanceolate, outer surface sparsely glandular, margin fringed; corolla and stamens not known; ovary conoidal, ca. 7 mm, glandular and with dendroid hairs; style 2–2.5 cm, glandular, with dendroid hairs to tip. Capsule not known. Fl. Jun–Jul.

Alpine scrub. SE Xizang.

From the incomplete description, this species is probably allied to Rhododendron bonvalotii and R. cerasinum, sharing with them a style that is glandular throughout its length. However, R. ramipilosum differs in the relatively broader leaf blade, ca. 2 × as long as wide.