Rhododendron brachyanthum ssp. hypolepidotum 'Dulong'

Description with 21 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. A broad, upright, evergreen shrub,< 1m high. Tender – grown under glass. Young shoots green, scaly with short-stipitate, concave scales. Petiole scaly, to 12 mm. Leaf blade oblong obovate, narrow elliptic or oblanceolate, coriaceous, aromatic, to 8.5 cm. Leaf apex rounded, with mucro. Leaf base acute to cuneate. Leaf adaxial side medium green, shiny, scaly. Scales 0.5-2 x their diam. apart, 120-200 micrs. Leaf abaxial side light glaucous, papillose, scaly. Scales 0.5-2 x their diam. apart. Scales light/dark coloured c. 9:1, concave with irregular margins, 120-280 micrs. (dark ones the largest). Flower bud terminal, scaly. Inflorescence a raceme with 4-5 flowers. Rachis to 30 mm. Pedicel scaly, to 36 mm. Calyx with 5 lobes. Lobes oval, scaly, to 5 mm. Corolla with 5 lobes, campanulate, glabrous outside, puberulent in the base of tube, pale yellow, 15 mm wide, 10 mm deep (long). Ovary oblong, densely scaly, with 5 loculi, 3.5-4.0 mm. Stamens 10, unequal in lenght, 8-10 mm. Filaments pubescent on lower half, white. Anthers pale brown, 1.4-1.7 mm. Style glabrous, stout, sharply bent, inserted in ovary, greenish, 7 mm with turbinate, bullate, green stigma, 1.9 mm. Capsule and seeds unknown. Origin: Dulong, Gongshan County, NW Yunnan, China at 3100 m. Native habitat: SE Xizang, C and W Yunnan, NE Myanmar at 3000-3600-(4000) m according to Flora of China efloras org.