Rhododendron yunnanense FB24-2013 'Gesala'

Description with 19 photos. Photo: Finn Bertelsen. An open and erect evergreen shrub, a few m high. Some protection is needed. Young shoots greenish, slightly scaly. Petiole slightly scaly, to 8 mm.Leaf blade variable in outline from lancet, oblong, elliptic to obovate, chartaceous, to 6-7 cm. Young leaves hispid with bristles along margins and adaxial surfaces. Leaf apex acute to obtuse acute, with mucro. Leaf base rounded cuneate to cuneate. Leaf adaxial side dark green, with scattered scales, 120-165 micrs., with or without bristles. Leaf abaxial side greyish green, scattered scaly. Scales 140-200 micrs., 2-5 x their diam. apart. Inflorescense umbel-like, with 2 to 6 flowers. Pedicel slightly scaly, reddish, 12-15 mm. Calyx cup-shaped with undulate, 5 lobed rim, < 1mm. Corolla with 5 lobes, broadly funnel-shaped, zygomorphic, internally glabrous except of a puberulent area along the the blotch area, externally scarcely papillate, white with a purple blush, wine-red spotted, c. 50 mm wide, c. 15 mm deep (long). Ovary conical, densely scaly, with 5 loculi, dark green, to 5 mm. Stamens 10, unequal in length, the longest protruding from corolla, the upper ones proximally pubescent, the remaining glabrous. Style glabrous, straight, colourless, to 40 mm, with upwards bent stigma, purple-red, bullate, 1.45 mm in diam. Capsule cylindrical, scaly with scales depressed, to 10-15 mm. Seeds wing-less, with small floating appendages, 1.5-1.8 mm. Locality of origin: Gesala, Yanbian County, Sichuan, China at 3250 m. Native habitat (the species): W. Guizhou, S. Shaanxi, W. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, China and Myanmar at (1600)-2200-3600-(4000) m according to Flora of China. Remarks: The above description is valid for the actual clone only. The species is rather variable as regards to durability and elaboration of foliage and to flowers.