13. 
RHODODENDRON THOMSONI, woos. ww. 
Dr. Thomson's Rhododendron. 
Tas. XII. 
Frutex ramosissimus, cortice pallide papyracco, foliis in ramos terminales coriaceis glaberrimis orbiculari-ovatis obtusissimis apiculatis basi 
cordatis late virentibus subtus glaucescentibus margine subrecurvo, petiolo gracili, corymbis plurifloris, pedunculis longitudine 
petiolorum, floribus radiatim patentibus cernuisve, calyce amplo cylindraceo-cyathiformi basi retuso inequaliter lobato, lobis erectis 
obtusissimis, corolla intense sanguinea coriacco-carnosa nitida, tubo elongato-campanuliformi, limbi lobis 5 patenti-subrecurvis 
inibus 10, ovario coni lind 
profunde emarginatis superioribus intus maculatis, glaberrimo 6-10-loculari, stylo gracili, 
stigmate conico, capsula calyce cylindraceo persistente $ tecta. 
Has. Sikkim-Himalaya ; inner and outer ranges; elev. 11-13,000 feet; abundant. #7. June. Hr. November. 
A bush six to ten feet high, or in damp woods fifteen feet, but then spare, and woody. Lower dranches stout, 
a foot in diameter; upper slender, leafy at the extremities. Zeaves two to three inches long, very broad, gencrally 
orbicular-ovate, but sometimes almost exactly orbicular, much resembling those of 2. campylocarpum, Hook. fil., only 
that in the latter the petioles are often glandular, here never ; the texture of the leaves is coriaceous, but not very thick, 
the apex very blunt, tipped with a short mucro, the base subcordate, the colour pale green, below subglaucous, everywhere 
quite glabrous. /Vowers in a corymb of six to eight together from the apices of short branches among the leaves, on 
peduncles an inch or more long, which radiate, as it were, from a centre, spreading horizontally or curving downwards. 
Calye \arge, between cylindrical and hemispherical, or deep cup-shaped, coloured red in the upper half, green below, 
the base intruse for the reception of the peduncle, three-quarters of an inch long and as much wide, the mouth almost 
truncate but obscurely lobed. Corolla remarkable for the almost unrivalled deep blood-red colour and glossy surface of 
its flowers, yielding only to 2. fulgens, Hook. fil..—deeper coloured than that of R. arboreum: the tube elongated, 
often vertically compressed, two inches long; the dim large, much spreading, five-lobed, the odes emarginate, upper 
ones spotted. Stamens a little longer than the tube : filaments glabrous, white ; anthers rather large, deep brown. Ovary 
conico-cylindrical, glabrous, furrowed, six- to cight-celled. Capsule rather short, straight, glaucous purple, about  three- 
quarters of its length.immersed in the persistent calyx. 
The whole is perfectly inodorous. Much honey is secreted in the base of the corolla, which has the character of 
not being poisonous, like what is yielded by &. Dalhousie and R. argentewm. The two latter species are said to render 
wild honey, collected in spring (their flowering season), deleterious. i 
To this species I give the name of Dr. Thomas Thomson, surgeon, H. E.1.C.S., late of the Thibetian Mission, 
son of the learned Professor of Chemistry of Glasgow University, my earliest friend and companion during my College 
life, and now my valued travelling companion in Hastern Himalaya. 
Tas. XII. Rhododendron Thomsont. Vig. 1. Stamen. 2. Pistil. 3. Transverse section of ovary :—magnified. 
