Rhododendron rupicola var. muliense

Description with 28 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. A low, compact shrub. Young shoots red brown, scaly. Petiole scaly,1.5 mm. Leaf blade elliptic, coriaceous, 9-12 mm. Leaf apex rounded, slightly ciliate. Leaf base cuneate to rounded. Leaf adaxial side grey green, densely scaly with mixed dark and light scales 0-1 x their diam. apart. Leaf abaxial side light brownish, densely scaly with mixed dark and ligth amber colored scales 0-1 x their diam. apart. Inflorescence dense, umbel like with typically 5-8 flowers. Pedicel scaly, to 6 mm. Calyx with 5 lobes, lingulate, scaly, ciliate or not, 4-5 mm. Corolla with 5 lobes ovoid 13×6 mm, openly funnel-shaped to rotate, slightly zygomorphic with a minor, upper central lobe, externally slightly scaly, puberulent in tube, pale yellow to almost white. Ovary ovoid, densely scaly, puberulent at apex, with 5 loculi, 3 mm. Stamens 10, unequal in length, 9-12 mm. Filaments white, pubescent towards base. Anthers yellow to brownish, 1 mm. Style straight, pubescent at base,10 mm, with greenish, bullate stigma, 1 mm. Capsule ovoid, scaly and puberulent, 5-6 x 3 mm. Seeds with diminutive floating appendages and wings, 1.0-1.3 mm. Locality of origin (FB9-2018): Changhaizi, Muli County, Sichuan, 3700 m. Native habitat: Muli County, Sichuan, China at 3900-4300 m according to Flora of China.