Shrubs, 1–3 m tall; young shoots, petioles, pedicels and calyces glabrous. Petiole yellowish, 10–15 mm; petioles, pedicels and calyces glabrous; leaf blade leathery, ovate-elliptic, elliptic, oblong or broadly oblong, 5–11 × 2.5–5 cm; base rounded or subcordate; apex obtuse, apiculate; abaxial surface indumentum compacted, 1-layered, gray-white, tawny to rust-yellow, cinnamon, or deep brown to ferruginous subagglutinated, hairs usually long-rayed stellate, gradually lost, sometimes persistent and branched; adaxial surface glabrous. Inflorescence corymbose-umbellate, 6–15-flowered; rachis ca. 10 mm, glabrous. Pedicel 1–1.5 cm; calyx 5-cleft, 1–1.5 mm; corolla campanulate or funnelform, white to pink, with purple-red spots inside, 2.5–3.5 cm, lobes 5; stamens 10, filaments slightly puberulent in lower half, or glabrous; ovary 4–5 mm, glabrous, sometimes sparsely pubescent; style glabrous, stigma capitate, green. Capsule oblong-cylindric, 15–20 × 4–5 mm. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Sep.

Rhododendron przewalskii hybridizes with R. phaeochrysum where the two species meet (as at Kangding in W Yunnan). Because of this, there are a number of forms that cannot be definitely placed in either species.

Forests, mountain slopes, often dominant in thickets; 2700–4300 m. SW Gansu, E and S Qinghai, W Shaanxi, N and W Sichuan.