Tas. 8834. 
RHODODENDRON VERNICOSUM. 
Western China. 
/ 
Ericackak. Tribe RHopoREAr. 
RuopopenpRon, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 599, 
Rhododendron vernicosum, Franch. in Journ, de Bot. vol. xii. p. 258 
(1898) ; affinis R. Fortunet, Lindl., sed foliis minoribus basi inaequaliter 
rotundatis nec cordatis et corollae tubo late campanulato differt. 
Frutex divaricatus usque ad 4°5 m. altus (Forrest); ramuli_ teretes, 
atrobrunnei, glabri, sicco nitiduli, annotini circiter 6 mm. crassi. Folia 
laxe disposita, elliptica, apice late rotundata et obtuse mucronata, 
basi inaequaliter rotundata vel subtruncata, 6-11 em. longa, 2-5-6 em. 
lata, tenuiter coriacea, supra viridia et plerumque nitida, infra pallidiora ~ 
delicate et crebre reticulata, utrinque glabra; costa media supra anguste 
canaliculata, infra elevata; nervi laterales utrinsecus 14-16, a costa sub 
angulo lato abeuntes, graciles, marginem versus evanidi et ramosissimi ; 
petioli 2-3°5 cm. longi, glabri, supra anguste canaliculati. Inflorescentia 
terminalis, circiter 10-flora; bracteae mox deciduae, dense villosae; 
pedicelli nutantes, 2-2-5 em. longi, glandulis viscidis parvis subsessilibus 
ornati. Calyx brevissimus, circiter 1°5 mm. longus, inaequaliter 5-lobulatus, 
lobulis late ovatis extra glandulis breviter stipitatis instructis. Corolla 
pallide rosea, late tubuloso-campanulata ; tubus 2°5 cm. longus, glaber ; lobi 
1°5 cm. longi, 2 cm. lati, apice late emarginati. Stamina 12-14, breviter 
exserta; filamenta glabra; antherae flavo-brunneae, 3 mm. longae. 
Ovarium 6-T-loculare, glandulis subsessilibus dense obtectum, leviter 
suleatum; stylus staminibus longior, pallide viridis, 3 em. longus, 
glandulis viscidis minimis rubescentibus brevissime stipitatis ornatus, 
stigmate lobulato coronatus.—Rhododendron lucidum, Franch. in Journ. 
de Bot. vol. ix. p. 390 (1895) ; non Nutt. (1853). R. Fortwnei, var. lucidum, 
Millais, Rhodod. p. 169 (1917).—J. Hurcurinson. 
The handsome Chinese Rhododendron here described 
was first met with by the Abbé Soulié in 1893 in the forests 
of Tongolo and in the vicinity of Ta-chien-lu in Western 
Szechuan and was characterised two years later, under 
the name Shododendron lucidum, by the late Mr. 
Franchet. The author in so doing had overlooked the 
fact that, forty years earlier, Mr. Nuttall had described a 
very different Himalayan species under the same name. 
Five years later, however, having discovered his over- 
sight, Mr. Franchet substituted for the Chinese plant the 
January—Marcg, 1920, 
