Tas. 4730. 
RHODODENDRON wnivevn. 
Snowy-leaved Rhododendron. 
Nat. Ord. Er1tck#.—DercanpRtia Monoeynra. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 4336.) 
RHODODENDRON xiveum ; arbuscula vage ramosa, cortice fusco rugoso, foliis 
obovato-lanceolatis petiolatis acutis opacis subtus petioloque tomento ap- 
presso niveo (rarius fuscescente) lanatis, capitulis globosis compactis multi- 
floris, calyce obsoleto, corolla late campanulate tubo intus basi plicis 5 
membranaceis, ovarii annulo hypogyno magno lobato, capsulis ovali-ob- 
longis cylindraceis tomentosis obtus 6-locularibus, valvis lignosis. 
R#opopENDRON niveum. Hook. Jil. Rhod. Sik. Himal. Conspect. p. 4. 
_ Found by Dr. Hooker in Sikkim Himalaya ; rocky valleys and 
_ ridges, Lachen, Lachong, and Chola ; elevation 10,000 to 12,000 
feet, not unfrequent : but he was not so fortunate as to meet with 
flowering specimens of this plant during his sojourn in Sikkim 
Himalaya. Yet from the fruiting ones he determined the species 
to be new, and he determined rightly. One of our young plants 
in the Royal Gardens produced the flowers here represented in 
May, 1853, and they afford additional characters to those derived 
from the peculiar form of the fruit, and the snow-white, flocculent, 
°paque tomentum occupying both surfaces of the very young leaf 
_ permanent beneath—as distinguishing it from R. arboreum 
and from R. Campbellie. The colour of the flowers is indeed 
very different from either, and not unlike that of the European 
- ponticum and the North American R. maximum, but showing 
cep sanguineous spots at the inner base of the corolla, where, 
alternating with them, are five membranaceous decurrent scales 
or plice. The calyx is obsolete, reduced to a small oblique 
<carcely lobed disc, and there is a very large hypogynous annu- 
lar lobed ring, in which the ovary is inserted. 
Descr. A small shrub, with rugged bark on the older stems 
and branches. Leaves moderately large, spreading, opaque on 
AUGUST Ist, 1853. 
