Tas GLE 
RHODODENDRON Forou. 
China. 
Ericacem®. Tribe RHODOREZ. 
RHODODENDRON, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 599. 
Rhododendron Fordii, Hemsl. in Kew Bull. 1894, p. 5; species exaffinitate 
R. Fortunei, Lindl. (B. M. t. 5596) et R. brachyearpi, D. Don (B. M. 
t. 7881), sed ab ambobus foliis minoribus basi cuneatis et floram colore 
differt. 
Frutex demum circiter 8-pedalis, ramulis floriferis tortuosis glabrescentibus 
apice tantum foliiferis. Folia distincte petiolata, crassa, coriacea, 
primum floccoso-tomentosa, fulva, cito glabrescentia, obovato-lanceolata, 
2-3 poll. longa, apice rotundata, deorsum attenuata. Corymbi 4-6-flori; 
bractese coriaceze, glutinosse, fulvee glabrescentes, lanceolatzw, acute, 
exteriores gradatim minores; pedicelli ferrugineo-pubescentes, quam folia 
breviores. Flores circiter 3 poll. diametro, intus albi, corolle lobo 
superiore roseo maculoso, extus primum roseo-purpurei. Calyx parvus, 
lobis triangularibus acutis. Corolla 5-loba, lobis rotundatis emarginatis. 
Stamina szepius 10, insequalia, longiora corollam fere equantia, filamentis 
infra medium puberulis; anther aurantiace. Ovarium pilis stellatis 
vestitum ; stylus stamina paullo excedens, in parte inferiore pilis paucis 
glandulosis preeditus. Capsula ignota. 
The genus Rhododendron is spread all around the 
northern hemisphere, extending southward to Florida and 
California in America, and in the Hast southward to New 
Guinea and North Australia, with the greatest concen- 
tration of species in China, chiefly in the western provinces. 
About 150 Chinese species have been described, and there 
are probably not fewer than twenty-five undescribed species 
in the Kew Herbarium. Considering the immense areas of 
unexplored China in connection with the fact that many, 
perhaps most of the species are quite local, the total 
number of species inhabiting that country is probably not 
under 250. &. Fordii is an eastern species, collected by a 
native in Lantao Island, in 1889, for the Hong Kong 
Botanic Garden. Lantao, it may be mentioned, is con- 
siderably larger than, and lies a little to the west of 
Hong Kong. Plants were raised at Kew from seeds sent 
in 1894 by Mr. C. Ford, 1.8.0., F.L.S., at that time Super- 
intendent of the Hong Kong Botanie Garden, and it has 
been widely distributed to other gardens. It is a very 
pretty species, the flower-buds being of a bright purple- 
red, and the expanded flowers white inside, with a slight 
DecEeMBER lst, 1906, 
