Tas. 7149. 
RHODODENDRON Boorutt. 
Native of the Bhotan Himalaya. 
Nat. Ord. Ertcacex%.—Tribe Ruopored. 
Genus RuopopENDRON, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 599.) 
cae 
RuopopenpRon (Eurhododendron) Boothti; frutex debilis, ramulis hirsutis 
demum glabratis, foliis ovato- v. oblongo-lanceolatis acuminatis basi 
rotundatis v. cuneatis supra laxe ferrugineo-hirsutis demum glabris, 
: subtus minutissime lepidotis, corymbis densifloris, pedicellis brevibus 
hirsutulis, sepalis amplis late ovatis apice rotundatis, corolla campanu- 
lata flava 5-loba lobis rotundatis, staminibus 10, filamentis superne 
pilosis, antheris magnis fusco-aurantiacis, ovario lepidoto 5-loculari, 
stylo valido decurvo, stigmate incrassato truncato, capsula oblonga rugosa 
oa seminibus linearibus compressis utrinque caudatis, testa 
rma. 
R. Boothii, Nuttall in Hook. Kew Journ. Bot. vol. v. (1853), p. 356. Lem. 
Illust. Hortic. 1858, t. 174. Clarke in Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. iil P. 470. 
Rhododendron Boothii is one of twenty-two species of the 
genus found in Bhotan by Mr. Booth, and described in’ 
Hooker’s “Journal of Botany ” for the year 1853, by the 
late Thos. Nuttall (a very eminent American botanist, who 
resided much in England). Mr. Booth was a nephew of 
Mr. Nuttall, and was sent by his uncle to collect chiefly 
seeds of Himalayan Rhododendron, shortly after the influx 
of Sikkim species had demonstrated the extraordinary rich- 
ness of the Eastern Himalaya in that genus. Of those 
twenty-two species about a dozen were new, and of these 
again eight, including the present, have been figured in 
this work: namely, &. Keysit, t. 4875; R. Hooker, 
t. 4269; R. calophyllum, t. 5002; R. Windsori, t. 5008 5 
R. Shepherdii, t. 5125; L. Kendrickii, t. 5128; 2. Nuttallii, 
is R. ciliatum, 
t.5146. The nearest ally of R. Boothi 1 
t. 4778, from which it differs in its much larger size and 
dense heads of yellow flowers. It was found at an eleva- 
tion of five thousand feet, epiphytic on oaks, and 1s de- 
‘scribed as a straggling shrub five to six feet high. i 
The specimen here figured was taken from a plant in 
the magnificent collection of Indian Rhododendrons formed 
by the late Mr. Mangles, of Valewood, Haslemere, which 
flowered in a greenhouse in April of the present year. | 
lts of botanical explorations lately 
Judging by the resu { 
made in Western China, it would appear that all previous 
estimates of the number of species of this magnificent 
genus of plants, are far below the mark, and that the 
DecaMBer Ist, 1890. — 
