94 JOURNAL 



[vol. V 



elliptic, without petiole 3-10 cm. long, 1.5-4.5 cm. wide, rounded, mucron- 

 ate, base abruptly rounded, truncate or sub-cordate, upper surface dark 

 green, lower pallid; petiole purplish, 1-3 cm. long. Flowers 6-12 in a ter- 

 minal umbellate cluster; pedicel 1-2.5 cm. long, stipitate-glandular; 

 calyx annular, obscurely lobed, glandular; corolla 7-Iobed, pink to rose- 

 red, sometimes white, spotted with rose-red on posterior segment, wide- 

 funnelform, 3-6 cm. deep, 4-7 cm. wide, lobes short, rounded, spreading; 

 stamens about 14, of unequal length, shorter than corolla, filaments glab- 

 rous, anthers dark, oval; pistil nearly as long as corolla, ovary ovoid, 

 glandular, style reddish, curved, glabrous, stigma capitate, lobed. 



This beautiful species is easily recognized among other Ilupeh Rhodo- 



dendrons by the shape and relatively small size of its leaves, by its compact 

 umbellate inflorescence and by its glandular pedicels and ovary. It 

 grows wild on the high mountains of northwestern Ilupeh and contiguous 

 Szechuan and is not known to grow elsewhere, for the statement by 

 Millais that Forrest found this species in Yunnan is erroneous. Fere 

 Farges reports it from a calcareous region but I never saw it growing 

 either in or on limestone. Its altitudinal range is from 6500 to 9500 ft. 

 though it is most plentiful round about elevations of 8000 ft. At the 

 lowest level of its distribution this plant grows in mixed woods, higher 

 up it is common in forests of Abies Fargesii Franch., Pinus Armandi 

 Franch. and Picea Wilsonii Mast., Populus tremida var. Davidiana Schneid., 

 Bctula albo-sinensis Burkill and other trees. Above the level of forests 

 it is abundant among shrubs and on the fully exposed slopes and mountain 

 tops often forms extensive thickets. It is usually a bush from 6 to 10 

 ft. high and broad but often it is double these dimensions. The habit 

 is good though the foliage is rather sparse and being small exposes clearly 

 the polished branches. The flowers vary in color from pale-pink to rose- 

 red, occasionally they are white and more or less dotted with rose-color. 

 The plant is exceedingly floriferous, every shoot terminating in a dense 

 rounded truss of flowers. So abundantly does it blossom that the bushes 

 frequently exhaust themselves and die. The flowers open from the middle 

 of May until the beginning of June often while snow still lays in shaded 

 places. 



This Rhododendron was discovered between 1891 and 1894 by Pere 

 P. Farges near the village of San-ken-cheou in the district of Tailing in 

 eastern Szechuan. It was found by me in Fang district in western Ilupeh 

 and introduced into cultivation by means of seeds (No. 1250) sent to 

 Messrs. Veitch in the autumn of 1901. All the plants in gardens are 

 from this source. It first flowered in Cornwall at Caerhays Castle in 

 March, 1911, and about the same time in the garden of Mr. P. D. Williams 

 at Lanarth. 



Though not so valuable to gardens as the late-flowering R. auriculatnm 

 Hemsl. or R. discolor Franch. this Rhododendron is my favorite among 



