1924] WILSON, THE RHODODENDRONS OF HUPEH 105 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



Flowers in fascicles of 3 to several, stamens and pistil much longer than the corolla. 



14. R. pittosporaefolium. 

 Flowers solitary, stamens shorter than the corolla 15. R. Wxhonae. 



Rhododendron pittosporaefolium Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Soc. xxvi. 

 29 (1889).— Diels in Bot. Jahrb. xxix. 515 (1900).— Bean in Flora & 

 Sylva, in. 164 (1905).— Schneider, 111. Handb. Laubholzk. n. 509, fig. 

 333 (1911).— Hutchinson in Millais, Rhodod. 225 (1917). 



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

 1910, 1 16.— Rehder & Wilson in Sargent, PI. Wilson, i. 546 (1913).— Hutch- 

 inson in Bot. Mag. cxli. t. 8601 (1915). — Non Franchet. 



Rhododendron aucubaefolium Hemsley in Jour. Linn. Soc. xxvi. 19 (1889), 

 as to the flowers, the leaves and shoot belong to Daphniphyllum macropodum 

 Miquel— Bean in Flora & Sylva, in. 162 (1905) 



Bush from 2 to 8 m. tall, with many spreading, slender, glabrous 

 branches; winter-buds narrow-ovoid, glabrous. Leaves coriaceous, tufted, 



- 



lustrous, glabrous, lanceolate to oblong, rarely broadest about the middle, 

 without petiole 6-12 cm. long, 2-5 cm. wide, acuminate, base cuneate, 

 rarely rounded; petiole 1-1.5 cm. long. Flowers fragrant, from 3 to 8 

 in axillary fascicles, the fascicles several and crowded together at the 

 end of last season's growth; pedicels slender, 1-3 cm. long, glabrous; 

 calyx glabrous, annular, with 5 small, unequal teeth; corolla white, 

 sometimes suffused with pink, with yellow blotch on the posterior lobes, 

 pointed in the bud, 2.5-3.5 cm. long, deeply 5-lobed, the lobes oblong, 

 obtuse or sub-acute, spreading and recurving from a narrow, cylindric 

 tube; stamens 10, much exserted, filaments flattened, short-pilose in 

 lower half, anthers oval, yellowish, pistil glabrous, overtopping the stamens, 

 4-5.5 cm. long, ovary cylindric, 0.6 cm. long, 0.3 cm. wide, style filiform, 

 stigma capitate. Fruit spindle-shaped, 2.5-4 cm. long, 0.4 cm. wide, fur- 

 rowed, dehiscing from below upward, margins of the valve waved; seeds 

 shining pale brown, flattened, oval, 0.3 cm. long, winged at either end. 



This is a very remarkable species easily recognized by its fascicled 

 flowers with spreading, recurving lobes and long exserted stamens and 

 pistil. At one time I thought it the same as R. stamineum Franch., a Yun- 

 nan species and they are unquestionably very closely related but R. 

 8tamineum y as described, has much thinner leaves, smaller pink flowers, 

 thirteen stamens and shorter genitalia. Experience has taught us that 

 none of the Yunnan Rhododendrons extend into central China and, in- 

 deed, very few into western Szechuan as far north as Mt. Omei. Until 

 both species are in cultivation, where their true relationship can be 

 positively determined, it seems best to keep the two as distinct. 



Hemsley's species is well-named for in foliage and habit it singularly 

 resembles a Pittosporum. It is a broad, spreading shrub, sometimes 

 25 ft. high and as much in diameter, with shining green leaves crowded 

 at the ends of the slender but rigid shoots. When young, and especially 

 on seedling plants, the leaves are a rich bronze or of a purple hue and 



