Rhododendron rubiginosum aff. FB6-2015
Description with 27 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. Upright growing, evergreen shrub. Hardy. Young shoots purple, scaly. Petiole reddish, scaly, puberulent in the midgroove, to 17 mm. Leaf blade elliptical, rarely oblong elliptical, non-aromatic, to 11.8 cm. Apex acuminate, with tiny mucro. Leaf base acute to obtuse. Adaxial side dark green, scattered scaly. Scales uniform, (180) – 210 – 240 micrs., 1 – 4 x their diam apart. Abaxial side light green, tinged brownish, densely scaly. Scales dissimilar in size, flat, broadrimmed, 175 – 260 micrs., on the midrib to 290 micrs. Scales 0.5 – 2 x their diam. apart. Inflorescence a semiglobular, short raceme, with up to 8 flowers, from terminal bud. Rachis scaly, c. 3 mm. Pedicel scaly, to 20 mm. Calyx with 5 triangular lobes, basally scaly, < 1.5 mm. Corolla with 5 lobes, openly funnel-shaped, sparsely scaly externally, whitish pink with crimson spots, c. 35 mm wide, c. 15 mm deep (long). Ovary conical, densely scaly, with 5 loculi, c. 3.5 mm. Stamens 10, unequal in length, only slightly extending from corolla mouth. Filaments basally pubescent/glandular hairy, light purple or white. Anthers dark brown. Style glabrous, inserted in the ovary, longer than the stamens (c. 20 mm), yellowish, with bullate purple brown stigma, 1.7 mm. Capsule conical, scaly, to 18 mm. Seeds 1.4 – 2.3 mm, with well-developed floating sacs, wingless. Locality of origin: Baili, Bijie County, Guizhou, China. Remarks: FB6-2015 differs from R. rubiginosum by having more widely spaced and smaller abaxial scales thus resulting in a less brownish shading. R. bainaense Xiang Chen & Cheng H. Yang (J. Tropical and Subtropical Bot., 2012, 20(5), p. 513-16) referred to Heliolepida, hasscales with a corresponding spreading, but the scales are described – not illustrated – as being concave, in contradiction to the flat, broadrimmed scales at FB6-2015. R. bainaense has a more rounded shape of leaf with a.o. an obtuse to rounded leaf apex, in contrary to the acuminate apex at FB6-2015 (and R. rubiginosum). R. bainaense in addition has aromatic leaves and glabrous or almost glabrous filaments.The seed source to FB6-2015 was previously shown as R.bainaense (rubiginosum aff.) on the website of Rhododendronforeningen (Danish Chapter of ARS): www.rhododendron.dk.
