filaments and rather densely glandular style. In beauty 
and fragrance it is equal to any of its immediate allies, 
and is further readily distinguished from these by 
the valuable cultural character of being the latest in its 
group to flower. As compared with the related /’. Mor- 
tunei, Lindl., figured at t. 5596 cf this work, which 
flowers in May, &. discolor dces not come into blossom 
until the middle of June, a season when few Rhododen- 
drons of either wild or garden origin are to be found in 
bloom. Our plant also possesses another character 
valuable in this country, in being late of starting into 
growth; with the exception of &. auriculatum, Hemsl., 
from Central China, it is probably the latest. This 
renders it free from the danger of late frosts; so far as 
ordinary winter cold is concerned it is also perfectly 
hardy. The plant which provided the material for our 
plate was raised at Kew from seed collected by Wilson 
in autumn in 1908, received from the Arnold Arboretum 
early in 1909. — 
Description.— Shrub of robust habit, 6-8 feet high ; terminal twigs cylindric, 
about % in. thick near the tips, glabrous, somewhat polished. Leaves large, 
elongate- or oblong-elliptic, obtuse with a mucronate tip, base rounded, 6-12 
in. long, 23-3} in. wide, thinly leathery, above tawny-green with impressed 
nervation, beneath without glands, ashy grey, distinctly finely reticulated and 
with the spaces enclosed within the reticulations slightly raised ; midrib flat 
above, very visible towards the base beneath and there nearly 1 in. wide, 
gradually narrowed upwards; lateral nerves 15-18 along each side, slender, 
sunk above and rather indistinct beneath, much branched towards the leat- 
margin; petiole stout, 3-1} in. long, flat above, about } in. thick, glabrous. 
Flower-buds lateral, often several together, subcylindric, about 8 in. long, 2 in. 
wide ; scales gradually longer from without inwards, the outermost wide ovate, 
acute, about } in. long, finely ciliolate, the inmost elongate-oblanceolate, acute, 
¢ 
2-2} in. long, up to 4 in. wide, thinly papery, ciliolate on the edges, glabrous — 
on both sides. Inflorescence terminal, large, 8-10-flowered, 8-10 in. across ; 
axis 1-1} in. long, glabrous; pedicels at length nodding, 1-1} in. long, glabrous. 
Calyx obsolete, undulate, with sessile marginal glands, glabrous outside: 
Corolla white, wide funnel-shaped, limb up to 4% in. across, tube gradually 
widened from the base, 14 in. long, about 1% in. wide at the top, striate, 
glabrous ; lobes 6-7, oblong-orbicular, slightly emarginate, 13-1}? in. long, 
1} in. wide. Stamens usually 14, subequal, slightly exserted; filaments 
flattened below, glabrous ; anthers pale yellow, 2-4 tn Sn. Ovary 8-celled, 
beset with stalked glands. Style far-exserted, clothed throughout with sessile 
glands ; stigma large, mantle-like, capitate. 
Tas. 8696.—Fig. 1, tip of leaf; 2, calyx and pasa i sade. stamens ; 
5, section of ovary :—all enlarged, ie ee ee 
