Tab. 7159. 

 RHODODENDRON" scabbifoliom. 



Native of Western China. 



Nat. Ord. Ericaceae. — Tribe Rhodorejs. 

 Genus Rhododendron, Linn. ; (Benth. and Hooh. f. Gen. PL vol. ii. p. 599.) 



Rhododendron scabrifolium ; ramulis robustis strictis hispido-setosis, foliis 

 breviterpetiolatislanceolatisv.obloDgo-lanceolatisutrinqueacutiscoriaceis 

 margimbus subrecurvis supra scabrido-pnbescentibns suturate viridibus 

 subtus dense lepidotis nervis validis arcuatis hispidulis, floribus in cymas 

 terannales dispositis longiuscule pedicellatis, pedicellis hispidulis basi 

 bracteis imbricatis scariosia oblongis velatis, calycis parvi hispidi et 

 lepidoti lobis parvis ovatis acutis, corolte late campanulate tubo brevi, 

 lobis 5 oblongis obtusis patentibus, staminibus 10 filaraentis glaberrimis 

 corollaj lobis aaquilongis, ovario ovoideo tereti hispido et depidoto 5- 

 loculan, stylo gracili basi piloso, stigmate capitato crenato. 



R. scabrifolium, Franchet in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, vol. xxxiii. p. 236 ; Forbes 

 & Hemsl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. vol. xxvi. p. 30. 



This is one of the numerous recently discovered Rhodo- 

 dendrons of Western China, to which allusion was made 

 when describing R. Boothii (t. 7149). It formed one of a 

 collection of thirty-six Chinese species (all but two of them 

 previously unknown) sent to Paris by the Abbe Delavay, 

 chiefly from the mountains of Yun-nan. They are de- 

 scribed by M. Franchet, in the Bulletin of the Botanical 

 Society of France, and all referred to one section of the 

 genus proposed by him under the name of Chonlastron 

 (from x°™°v, a little barrel, and aarpov, a star, in allusion 

 to the form of the corolla tube). This section is described 

 as having persistent leaves, thirteen to fourteen long ex- 

 serted stamens, and an infundibular corolla with a narrow 

 cylindric tube as long as the lobes ; some of which characters 

 are not conspicuous in R. scabrifolium. 



t R. scabrifolium was discovered at an elevation of about 

 eight thousand feet, on the mountains above Lankong, in 

 the province of Yun-nan. Seedlings of it were obtained 

 by Kew from the Jardin des Plantes, in the spring of 

 1888, which flowered in April, 1890. Along with it were 

 received plants of R. cilitcalyx, decorum, Delavayi, fasti- 

 !/iat>im, hybridum, lacteum, and racemosumn a ^ from the 

 •same source. 



1'i:iuu-auy 1st. 1891. 



