6. Rhododendron subsect. Heliolepida (Hutchinson) Sleumer, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 74: 536. 1949.
亮鳞杜鹃亚组 liang lin du juan ya zu
Fang Ruizheng (方瑞征 Fang Rhui-cheng); David F. Chamberlain
Rhododendron ser. Heliolepida Hutchinson in J. B. Stevenson, Sp. Rhodod. 320. 1930 ["Heliolepis"].
Shrubs or small trees, 0.9–5(–10) m tall; young shoots scaly, otherwise glabrous or pubescent. Leaves fragrant when crushed; leaf blade leathery; abaxial surface scales dense, yellow to brown, large or small, unequal or all similar; adaxial surface usually scaly, otherwise glabrous or pubescent along midrib. Inflorescence terminal, umbellate, 2–7(to many)-flowered. Calyx undeveloped, 1–2 mm, 5-lobed or undulate; corolla broadly funnelform-campanulate or campanulate, often lobed to the middle, pale red or deep purplish red, less often white, often with darker spots, outer surface scaly, otherwise glabrous or sometimes pubescent; stamens 10, unequal; ovary 5(or 6)-locular; style erect, not scaly, glabrous or pubescent at base. Capsule cylindric, 7–18 mm; seed wingless or with finlike structures.
Five species: China, Myanmar; five species (three endemic) in China.
