96 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. v 



may be sessile or stalked or both, and very numerous or sparse. The rank 

 this plant is entitled to has puzzled me greatly but on the whole in the 

 present state of our knowledge I think it is best considered as a distinct 

 species. In habit of growth, in foliage and in form of inflorescence and 

 in the color of its flowers I regard this as one of the prettiest of the Hupeh 

 species. In a wild state the blossoms open in late April or early May 

 and there is a danger in gardens of its flowers being injured by late frosts. 

 It is essentially a woodland species where rock and abundant humus 

 prevail. This Rhododendron was discovered by A. Henry on the borders 

 of Changyang and Patung districts in 1888; it was introduced into culti- 

 vation by means of seeds (Nos. 648, 648a) which I collected in the Hsing- 

 shan district and sent to Messrs. Veitch in October, 1900. Plants flowered 

 for the first time in cultivation in 1913 in Coombe Wood nursery. 



Rhododendron discolor Franchct in Jour, de Bot. ix. 391 (1895). 

 Hemsley & Wilson in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform. 1910, 112.— Rehder & 

 on in Sargent, PI. Wilson. I. 542 (1913).— Bean in Kew Bull. Misc. 



Wil 



Tree 



Soc. Not. I. 190 (1918).— Millais, Rhodod. 155 (1917).— Hutchinson in 

 Bot. Mag. cxliii. t. 8696 (1917).— Chenault in Rev. Hort. 1918, 148, 

 fig. 48-49.— Garden, lxxxiii. 503, fig. (1919); lxxxiv. 270, fig. (1920). 



Dillistone in Garden, lxxxv. 346 v fig. (1921). — Osborn in Gard. Chron. 

 ser. 3, lxxii. 19, fig. 10 (1922). 



Rhododendron mandarinorum Diels in Bot. Jahrb. xxix. 510 (1900). — Hutch- 

 inson in Millais, Rhodod. 206 (1917). 



Rhododendron Kirkii Hort. Veitch apud Millais, Rhodod. 169 (1917).— Bean 

 in Rhod. rtoc. Not. i. 190 (1918).— Armytage Moore in Rhod. Soc. Not. 

 ii. 76 (1922). 



Rhododendron Fortunei var. Kirkii Millais, Rhodod. 169 (1917). 



Bush 2-6 m. tall with stout shoots, glabrous, often bloomy the first 

 year; winterbuds ovoid with ciliolate bud-scales. Leaves coriaceous, 

 glabrous, oblong-elliptic, 10-25 cm. long, 2.5-7.5 cm. wide, obtuse, mucron- 

 ate, base narrowed, often sub-auriculate, rarely truncate, upper surface 

 dark rich green, under surface pallid; petiole stout, 2-3.5 cm. long, purple, 

 often bloomy. Flowers fragrant, from 6 to 12 in a terminal umbellate 

 raceme, rhachis 2-5 cm. long, glabrous, pedicel stout, ascending-spreading 

 1.5-4 cm. long, glabrous, occasionally glandular; calyx small, discoid, 

 membranous, with gland-tipped undulate or triangular teeth; corolla 

 deeply 7-lobed, white, pink or pink shading to white, wide-funnelform, 

 from 6-10 cm. deep, 8-12 cm. wide, yellowish green within tube, lobes 

 undulate, wide-spreading, rounded, emarginate or entire; stamens about 

 14, sub-equal in length, slightly exserted, much shorter than corolla, fila- 

 ments flattened, glabrous, anthers pale yellow-brown, pistil much over- 

 topping stamens; ovary ovoid, and with stout nearly straight style densely 

 glandular; stigma large, capitate. Fruit woody, bloomy, oblique, purple, 

 oblong, 3.5-5 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, furrowed, subtended by the persistent 



