Rhododendron kiusianum var. kiusianum

Description with 18 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. A small-leaved, evergreen or semi-evergreen, low compact and multibranced shrub. Hardy. Branchlets, petioles and pedicels strigose, covered by ligulate, appressed setae with rugged tips. Petiole to 4 mm. Leaf blade obovate (to oval), to 2 cm. Leaf apex rounded, with mucro. Leaf base cuneate. Leaf adaxial side and leaf margin, dark green, strigose with scattered, colourless later brown setae. Leaf abaxial side light green, strigose with setae concentrated along the midrib. Inflorescence with 2-3 flowers. Calyx with partly unfolded, rounded lobes. Lobes with bristles on the outside and on the distal part of the inside. Corolla with 5 lobes, openly funnel-shaped, coloured in rose, pink and purple shades, not spotted. Ovary densely covered by ligulate bristles. Stamens, 5 (6), with fine, proximal hairs. Style with proximal bristles, otherwise glabrous, with coloured, swollen, upwards bent stigma. Stamens and style protruding from the mouth of corolla. Capsule setose. Seeds 0.9 -1.2 mm, with very small floating appendages. Native habitat: Kyushu, Japan according to US.Nat.Pl.G.Sys.