12. Rhododendron subsect. Tephropepla Sleumer, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 74: 532. 1949.
灰背杜鹃亚组 hui bei du juan ya zu
Yang Hanbi (杨汉碧 Yang Han-pi); David C. Chamberlain
Small to moderately sized shrubs, 0.3–3(–5) m tall sometimes epiphytic; young shoots scaly, sometimes puberulous. Leaf blade leathery, mostly relatively narrow; abaxial surface often pale glaucous green, papillose, scales usually deeply sunk in pits, sometimes of 2 forms, golden, brown or dark brown to black; adaxial surface usually scaly, occasionally glabrous or puberulous. Inflorescence usually terminal, rarely axillary, umbellate or racemose-umbellate, (1–)3–9-flowered. Pedicels scaly; calyx large, (2–)3–8 mm, deeply 5-lobed, scaly, margin sometimes ciliate; corolla tubular-campanulate to funnel-campanulate, pink, white, or yellow; outer surface usually scaly, sometimes glabrous; stamens 10, declinate; ovary 5-locular; style straight, glabrous or scaly at base. Capsule cylindric, 5–10 mm, scaly. Seeds wingless, obscurely finned.
Six species: China, India, Myanmar; six species (four endemic) in China.
