102 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM 1vol. v 



Rhododendron Benthamianum Hemsley in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform. 1907, 

 319; in Gard. Chron. ser. 3, xlvii. 4 (1910).— Hemsley & Wilson in Kew 

 Bull. Misc. Inform. 1910, 1 15.— Millais, Rhodod. 128 (1917). 



Rhododendron continuum Hemsley & Wilson in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform 

 1910, 115.— Not Hemsley. 



Rhododendron atroviridc Dunn in Jour. Linn. Soc. xxxix. 484 (1911). 



Bush from 1 to 4 m. tall with many thin but rigid branches which are 

 densely verruculose the first year; winter-buds ovoid with lepidote bud- 

 scales. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, without 

 petiole 2.5-7.5 cm. long, 1-4 cm. wide, acute, mucronate. base rounded 

 or somewhat narrowed, dark green, lepidote, slightly rugulose above, 

 under surface gray-green, densely covered with shining brown lepidote 

 glands, midrib usually slightly pubescent on upper surface, glabrous on 

 under surface; petiole 0.3-1 cm. long, lepidote. Flowers 4 to 10 in a ter- 

 minal fascicle; pedicel 1-1.5 cm. long, lepidote; calyx discoid, lepidote, 

 w r ith 5 small acute teeth; corolla pale- to deep red-purple, rarely white, 

 5-Iobed, wide-funnelform, 3-5 cm. long and broad, blotched on the posterior 

 part with brown or greenish brown, more or less lepidote, rarely slightly 

 pubescent without, tube narrowed, lobes wide-spreading; stamens 10, 

 unequal in length, slightly exserted, filaments villose near base; pistil 

 overtopping stamens, ovary ovoid, 0.3-0.5 cm. long, densely lepidote, 

 style reddish, curved, glabrous, stigma capitate, lobed. Fruit slightly 

 curved, oblong-cylindric, 1-1.5 cm. long, 0.3-0.4 cm. wide, densely 

 lepidote-glandular; seed shining brown, ovoid, 1.5 mm. long, acute, wingless. 



From the related R. Aiigudinii Hemsl. this Rhododendron is distin- 

 guished by its verrucose branchlets, its glabrous thicker, shorter and 

 broader leaves, by the midrib not villose on under surface and by its many- 

 flowered fascicles. It is an uncommon plant in Hupeh though it occurs 

 on mountain cliffs between 5000 and 7000 ft. in Changyang district 

 in the south and Fang in the north. Further north it has been collected 

 in Shensi by W. Purdom who unfortunately gives no precise locality. 

 However, R. yanthinum is really a western species which has its eastern 

 limits of distribution in Hupeh. In western Szechuan it is abundant 

 on the edge of woodlands and in thickets from Wa-shan and Mupin west 

 to Tachien-lu between 5000 and 11000 ft. elevation. Usually it is a bush 

 from 1.5-2.5 m. tall and about as much in diameter but sometimes it is 

 double these dimensions. The branches though thin are rigid and numerous 



and the habit of the plant is compact. It flowers during May and June 

 and at its altitudinal limits north of Tachien-lu I have gathered it in blos- 

 som as late as July 9. 



This Rhododendron was discovered in the summer of 1890 in the neigh- 

 borhood of Tachien-lu by Prince Henri d'Orleans; it was introduced into 

 cultivation by seeds (No. 1433) collected by me on Wa-shan in October, 

 1903. The following year I sent more seeds to Messrs. Veitch and in 

 1908 and 1910 to the Arnold Arboretum. Plants raised by Messrs. Veitch 

 flowered for the first time in May, 1907, at the Coombe Wood nursery. 



