19. 
RHODODENDRON MADDENI, Zoe. pz 
Major Madden's Rhododendron. 
Tas. XVIII. 
Frutex erectus virgatus, ramulis pedunculis petiolis foliisque subter ferruginco-lepidotis, foliis petiolatis elliptico-lanccolatis utrinque acutis 
acuminatisve marginibus planis superne nitidis viridibus, pedunculis 2-3 terminalibus brevibus crassis, calycis brevis 5-fidi lobis in- 
wequalibus supremo nunc elongato, corolla extus lepidota ampla, tubo contracto clongato, limbi patentissimi lobis maximis rotundis 
integris, staminibus 18-20, filamentis glaberrimis, stylo longissimo ovarioque lepidotis, capsula elliptica 10-loculari lignosa. 
Has. Sikkim-Himalaya ; inner ranges, very rare: in thickets by the Lachen and Lachoong rivers at Choongtam ; clev. 6,000 fect. 27. June 
to August ; fr. November. 
A shrub six to eight fect high, branching from the base. Branches erect, supple, covered with pale, papery dark. 
Leaves abundant, very bright green, of a coriaceous substance but flaccid, elliptical-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, gradually 
tapering below into the rather short ferruginous petiole, 4-7 inches long, frequently pendulous ; the young ones entirely, 
the perfect ones beneath only, or sometimes partially above, clothed with dense, white squamules, which become ferruginous 
in age, the costa below eventually losing them. Peduneles about three, short, stout, lepidote. Calyz (as in R. Roylei) 
variable in form, always small in proportion to the size of the flower, somewhat membranous at the margin, five-lobed, the 
lobes obtuse, the upper one generally much prolonged. Corolla three and a half to four inches long, and as much across the 
limb, very handsome, pure white, with a faint blush, chiefly on the upper lobe, rather fleshy, but firm, in substance, the 
tube sparingly lepidote, in shape rather infundibuliform than campanulate, being so much more contracted than is usual 
with the Himalayan species ; the limd very large, spreading, of five, nearly equal, rounded, entire dodes, slightly crenato- 
undulate at the margin, delicately but obscurely veined. Stamens eighteen to twenty, as long as the tube: jlaments very 
slender, glabrous ; anthers ochreous-yellow. Ovary small for the size of the flower, ten-celled, elliptical, whitish with the 
copious squamules. Style very long, exserted much beyond the stamens and the mouth of the corolla, thickened 
upwards, lepidote. Stigma large, often morbidly incrassate and lobulate. Capsule oval-oblong, cylindrical, short, straight, 
obtuse at both ends, about an inch and a quarter long, and half that in breadth. 
Of this species the foliage and the flowers are faintly odorous. Very different as this may appear at first sight from 
BR. cinnabarinum (Tab. VII. of this work), it clearly belongs to the same natural groupe along with 2. Roylei. The very 
large white flowers, the numerous stamens, and ten-celled fruit abundantly distinguish it. 
I do myself the pleasure to name this truly superb plant in compliment to Major Madden of the Bengal Civil Service, 
a good and accomplished botanist, to whose learned memoirs on the plants of the temperate and tropical zones of North- 
west Himalaya, the reader may be referred for an excellent account of the vegetation of those regions. The same 
gentleman’s paper on the Conifer of the north of India may be quoted as a model of its kind. 
Tas, XVIII. Rhododendron Maddeni. Vig. 1. Stamen. 2. Calyx and pistil. 3. ‘Transverse section of ovary :—magnified. 4, Capsule :— 
natural size. 5. Portion of the lepidote underside of a leaf :—magnified. 
