Rhodora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 14. June, 1912. No. 162 
RHODODENDRON CAROLINIANUM, A NEW RHODODEN- 
DRON FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 
By ALFRED REHDER. 
For a year we have cultivated at the Arnold Arboretum a 
Rhododendron which was received from the nurseries of Harland P. 
Kelsey of Highlands, North Carolina, under the name Rhododendron 
punctatum. Growing side by side with the R. punctatum Andrews 
brought over from the Botanic Garden in Cambridge where it was 
introduced from the South about 60 years ago probably by Asa Gray, 
the two plants present marked differences at the first glance. The 
plant from North Carolina forms a low compact bush with broad 
leaves, flowering after the middle of May before the development 
of the shoots of the year, while the other plant which agrees exactly 
with the form figured by Andrews and cultivated formerly in 
European gardens,! is a taller loose-growing shrub with narrower 
leaves, and it flowers about four weeks later, when the young shoots: 
springing from below the inflorescence are already developed and 
overtop it. Generally the differences as regards habit, shape of the 
leaves, time of flowering and also the shape of the corolla are about 
the same as those between R. catawbiense and R. maximum, only 
in a lesser degree. In examining the available herbarium material 
I find that both forms are native to the southern Atlantic States; 
the low compact form being apparently restricted to the high 
mountains of North Carolina, while the other form inhabits lower 
altitudes and has a wider distribution. 
1 The plant now in cultivation in Europe as R. punctatum seems to be a hybrid 
between R. punctatum and R. ferrugineum. 
