Rhododendron intricatum

Description with 16 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. A low compact and twiggy shrub. Young shoots brownish, scaly. Petiole densely scaly, 1.4 mm. Leaf blade elliptic to ovoid, coriaceous, aromatic, 7-10 mm. Leaf apex acute obtuse, with minor mucro. Leaf base rounded cuneate. Leaf adaxial side grey green silvery, densely covered by overlapping colorless to light golden scales. Leaf abaxial side light grey green, densely lepidote by contiguous to overlapping, white yellow scales, 120-230 micrs. Inflorescence an umbel like raceme with 2-5 flowers. Leaf bud widely ovoid, red to ruby. Pedicel densely scaly, 1.4-3.3 mm. Calyx with 5 lobes. Lobes rounded triangular, in part ciliate, lepidote, 0.8-1.2 mm. Corolla with 5 lobes, with a thick, short tube and a spreading limb, light purple. Ovary ovoid, scaly and puberulent, a few mm long. Stamens 10. Style glabrous, straight, short and thick, 1.4 mm. Stamens and style not exserted from corolla tube. Capsule ovoid, scaly and puberulent, to 3.8 x 2.4 mm. Seeds with diminutive wings and floating appendages, 0.8-1.1 mm. Locality of origin (FB11-2018): Changhaizi, Muli County, Sichuan, 3700 m. Native habitat: C and W Sichuan, N Yunnan at (2800-)3500-4500(-5000) m according to Flora of China