Rhododendron griffithianum

Description with 17 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. An upright growing, evergreen shrub or tree. grown under glass. Not suitable for our garden (USDA Z. 7). Young shoots stout, glabrous or with short-stipitate glandular hairs, glaucous bloomed. Petiole glabrous, pale grey green, winged on the small leaves below buds, to 40 mm. Leaf blade oblong, narrow elliptical or oblanceolate, coriaceous, to 30X10 cm. Leaf apex acute to acuminate, with mucro. Leaf base obtuse to rounded. Leaf adaxial side matt green, glabrous. Leaf margin slightly wavy. Leaf abaxial side pale yellow green. Flower bud pointed ovoid. In florescence a raceme with up to 6 flowers. Rachis glabrous, to 11 cm. Pedicel with scarce short-stipitate glandular hairs, to 50 mm. Calyx irregular disc-shaped, glabrous, with reddish margin, to 26 mm in diameter. Corolla with 5 lobes, widely campanulate, scented, glabrous, white in full opening, 12 cm wide, 7.5 cm deep (long). Ovary ovoid, densely  short-stipitate glandular hairy, with 10-12 loculi, to 7 mm. Stamens 14-16, unequal in length, shorter than the corolla, 26-40 mm. Filaments glabrous, white. Anthers pale brown, 2.6 mm. Style straight, slender, scattered short-stipitate glandular hairy to the tip, c. 50 mm, with upwards bent, yellowish, bullate stigma, 5.2 mm. Capsule unknown. Seeds with well-developed wings and floating appendages, 2.8-3.0 mm. Origin: Glendoick seeds GD 6-17. Native habitat: S. Xizang (Tibet), Bhutan, N. India, E Nepal, Sikkim at 2100-2800 m according to Flora of China efloras org.