ASSAM AND BOOTAN. 355 
4319) 4. RHODODENDRON NurTALII, Booth. 
Arboreum : foliis maximis coriaceis ovalibus utrinque obtusis apicu- 
latis, subtus valde reticulatis fusco-squamosis; floribus maximis; 
corymbis 4—6-floris; lobis calycinis crassiusculis oblongo-ovalibus 
obtusis; corolla subcampanulata; staminibus 10; capsula 5-locu- 
lari, calyce persistente 2 tecta; seminibus pallidis, ovato-lanceolatis, 
lato-marginatis, marginibus erosis. 
Has. In the Duphla hills at Meré Patar, about Seram’s village, on the 
banks of the Papoo. In swampy ground, growing with Yews and 
Oaks at an elevation of 4-5000 feet above the sea-level. 
A tree 30 feet in height; and also a parasite of 12 or 13 feet eleva- 
tion, and then straggling, with thick tuberous roots. Young branches 
and the under surface of the leaves covered with circular peltate radia- 
ting resinous scales, of two kinds, the larger, in the expanding leaves, 
of a bright purple-red or pink colour. Young plants but little hairy 
(compared with those of R. Dalhousie). Leaves 6-8 inches long, 21-4 
inches wide, of a very thick coriaceous substance, so as to be quite 
opake, oval and obtuse, smooth above, except in the young state, very 
strongly veined and reticulated beneath, and scarcely paler than above; : 
in adult leaves brown, with the numerous resinous scales. Flower-cone 
a little more than 2 inches long, by 12 inches wide; the scales thick 
and coriaceous, with silky margins internally. Stipules oblong, membra- 
naceous, pink-red. Corymb four- to six-flowered ; peduncles very stout, 
about 2 inches long in the fruit, less than an inch in the flower. Calyx- 
segments thick and opake, oblong-oval or ovate, obtuse, slightly ciliated, 
and with the margins rose-red, an inch in length, enlarging in the fruit, 
when they become scarcely a third shorter than the capsule. Corolla 
subcampanulate, the border spreading, five-lobed, white with a tint of 
rose-red, and yellowish at the base within, 43-5 inches long, fragrant. 
Stamens ten; the filaments villous below. Style very long; the stigma 
large and capitate, five-lobed. Capsule light brown, five-celled, about 2 
inches long by an inch wide, the valves rounded and slightly carinated; 
placental dissepiments very deep. Seed very pale brown or straw- 
colour, ovate-lanceolate, acute, with a wide eroded margin.—In R. 
Dalhousie the seed is dark brown, lanceolate, acute at both extremi- 
ties, and the margin entire.—Allied to R. Dalhousie, but larger in all 
its parts, and with the calyx, capsule, and seed wholly different. 
To this section also appertains R. ciliatum. 
L4 
