RHODODENDRON AUCKLANDILI, Zoos. sv. 
Lord Auckland’s Rhododendron. 
Tas. XI. 
Fratex, cortice levi pallido subpapyracco, foliis amplis sublonge petiolatis oblongo-ovalibus acutis basi cordatis margine planis subtus vix 
glaucescentibus coriaceis venis divaricatis, floribus (inter maximos) 3-5 terminalibus albis, pedunculis longiusculis, calyce patelliformi- 
subrhomboideo inaqualiter obscure lobato, corolle tubo late panul limbo amplissimo patente, lobis 5 rotundatis emarginato- 
bifidis, staminibus 12-18, ovario glanduloso 12-loculari, stylo valido curvato, stigmate magno disciformi, capsula oblongo-cylindracea 
coriacea utrinque obtusa, valvis crassis dorso glaberrimis. 
Has. Sikkim-Himalaya ; inner ranges only ; elevation 7-9,000 feet, rare. #7. May and June. Fr. October. 
Seen in scattered dushes, four to cight feet high, branching from the base: and there the trunk is six inches in 
diameter. Branches suberect, copiously leafy. Bark smooth and papery. Wood resembling that of R. Hodgsoni. 
Leaves variable in size and breadth, but large for the size of the plant, four to ten inches long, coriaceous, oblong-elliptical, 
scarcely approaching to lanceolate, acute, cordate at the base, penninerved, the xerves patent, the margin plane often 
tinged with yellow, upper surface light full green, the under paler, slightly glaucescent, everywhere glabrous. Petioles 
ani inches long. Mowers the largest of the genus, but variable in size, terminal, three to five together, inodorous. Peduncles 
rather slender, longer than the petioles, red or green. The calyw represents a shallow, concave, irregular, subrhomboid- 
shaped platter, an inch and a half in its longest diameter, obscurely lobed, upper lobe most elongated, the beck marked 
with slightly elevated, radiating lines, glossy, as it were varnished. Corolla pure white, tinged with pink, veiny, of a 
firm, rather fleshy, texture: ¢Je short for the size of the flower, yellowish and rose-colour towards the base, the mouth 
very wide, limb exceedingly large and spreading : we have measured some only three inches across, but others five inches 
and five inches and a half in diameter! Stamens twelve to eighteen, small for so large a flower: jilaments glabrous ; 
anthers obovate, ochreous brown. Ovary ovate, rather short, glaucous green, granulated. Style rather flexuose, curving 
upwards, terminating in a spreading, concave disc, from which the hemispherical lobed stigma rises. Capsule an inch 
and a half long, three-quarters of an inch broad. 
It has been my lot to discover but few plants of this superb spccics, and in these the inflorescence varied much 
in size. The specimens from which our drawing was made were from a bush which grew in a rather dry sunny exposure, 
above the village of Choongtam, and the bush was covered with blossoms. ‘The same species also grows on the skirts 
of the Pine-forests (Adies Brunoniana) above Lamteng, and it is there conspicuous for the abundance rather than for 
the large size of its blossoms. 
To this fine plant I have the melancholy satisfaction of affixing the name of the late Right Honourable Lord Auckland, 
no less in token of my gratitude for the kindness and patronage I received from him, when First Lord of the 
Admiralty, than in memory of his zealous promotion of every scientific inquiry, and his liberal patronage of the arts and 
sciences while he filled the exalted station of Governor-General of India. 
Tas. XI. Rhododendron Aucklandii. Fig.1. Stamen. 2. Pistil. 8. Section of ovary :—slightly magnified. 4. Fruit :—natural size. 
