44 JOURNAL OF THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM [vol. iv. 



named by Turczaninow from material collected on the Po-hua-shan, 

 some sixty miles west of Peking, about 1835, by Dr. P. Y. Kirilov, a 

 Russian, who was physician to the 11th Russian Ecclesiastic Mission to 

 Peking in 1830. It was, however, discovered almost a century earlier 

 by the Jesuit Father, Pierre DTncarville, who joined the Chinese mission 

 of the Jesuits and died at Peking in 1757. This learned priest paid much 



attention to the botany of the Peking district and collected herbarium 



material. It was he who sent to Europe the seeds from which were raised 

 the first north China plants cultivated in Europe including such trees as 

 Ailanthus altissima Swingle, Sophora japonica Linn, and Thuja orientalis 

 Linn. A few of his specimens were described by Lamarck toward the end 

 of the 18th century but most of them remained untouched in the Museum 

 cTHistoire Naturelle, in Paris, until 1882 when they were determined by 

 Franchet. So far as I can discover there is no record of R. micranthum 

 being introduced into gardens until 1900, when I sent seeds from Hupeh, 

 central China, to Messrs. Veitch. 



Rhododendron Keiskei Miquel in Ann. Mus. Lugd.-Bat. n. 163 (Prol. 

 Fl. Jap. 95) (1865-66).— Maximowicz in Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 

 ser. 7, xvi. no. 9, 23, t. 4, figs. 11-17 (Rhod. As. Or.) (1870).— Franchet & 

 Savatier, Enura. PL Jap. i. 288 (1875). — Hemsley in Bot. Mag. cxxxvi. 

 t. 8300 (1910).— Matsumura, Ind. PL Jap. n. pt. 2, 462 (1912).— Bean, 

 Trees & Shrubs Brit. Isl. n. 364 (1914).— Rehder in Bailey, Stand. Cycl. 

 Hort. v. 2938 (1916).— Millais, Rhodod. 198, fig. (1917).— Mot tet in Rev. 

 Hort. 1917, 348, t. (1917). 



Shrub 1-3 m. tall, much-branched; branches twiggy, sparsely lepidote 

 when young; bud-scales lepidote. Leaves falling in the 2nd year, short- 

 petioled, coriaceous, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, sometimes elliptic, 

 3-6 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide, acute or rounded and mucronate at apex, 

 narrowed, sometimes rounded, rarely sub-auriculate at base, dark green, 

 finely reticulate, sparsely lepidote above, pale, densely lepidote below; 

 petiole often clad with few bristles and like the midrib of leaf-base usually 

 pubescent. Flowers pale yellow, about 4 cm across, umbellate-corymbose, 

 3-6; pedicels densely lepidote; calyx minute, saucer-shape, 5-lobed, lobes 

 rounded, often cilia te, densely lepidote; corolla broad-campanulate, 5- 

 lobed, spreading from a short tube, sparsely lepidote without; stamens 10, 

 exserted, unequal, filaments slightly pilose near base, anthers pale; pistil 

 longer than the stamens, ovary ovoid, densely lepidote, style curved, 

 glabrous, stigma small. Fruit cylindric, 1-1.5 cm. long, 3 mm. wide, 

 deeply furrowed; seed wingless, obovoid, shining brown. 



Habitat. Japan, Yaku-shima northward through Kyushu, Shikoku and 

 Hondo to the Nikko region. 



This species is interesting chiefly on account of its yellow flowers and is 

 related to R. lutescens Franchet and R. triflorum Hooker f . The bud-scales, 

 pedicels, calyx, ovary and underside of the leaves are densely and the 



