30. 
RHODODENDRON WIGHTIL, Hove. yz 
Dr. Wight’s Rhododendron. 
Tas. XXVII. 
Arbuscula ramosa, ramis cortice Papyraceo tectis, foliis lanceolatis elliptico-lanceolatisve utrinque acutis superne glaberrimis subtus lana 
arctissime appressa rufa tectis marginibus planis, petiolo puberulo, capitulis multifloris, bracteis coriaceis glaberrimis viscidis, pedicellis 
gracilibus puberulis, calyce obsoleto, corolla ampla campanulata pallide straminea sanguineo-notata, tubo turgido, limbo patenti-recurvo 
5-lobo, staminibus 10, filamentis glabris, stigmate capitato vix exserto, ovario glanduloso-pubescente albido 10-loculari, capsula 
glaberrima lineari-cylindracea curva, valvis lignosis, seminibus atro-fuscis. 
Has. Sikkim-Himalaya; wooded valleys and on spurs of all the mountains, elev. 12-14,000 feet; abundant. #7. June; fr. November. 
Asmall shrubby ¢ree, yielding to none in the beauty of its inflorescence amongst that yellow-flowered groupe of which it 
is the pride. The ¢runs are as thick as the thigh in the large specimens, and branch very much both upwards and outwards, 
forming a thickset shrub of ten feet high. Ramuli very thick and woody, the ultimate ones puberulous. Petioles half an 
inch long, stout, puberulous. Leaf six to eight (rarely ten) inches long, two and a half to three broad, very coriaceous, 
more plane than is usual in the genus, of a deep bright green above and but hardly glossy, beneath covered with a very 
closely appressed opaque tomentum of a more or less deep rufous colour, rarely pale and nearly white in the young foliage, 
Capitula much larger than those of 2. arboreum, twelve- to twenty-flowered, but the flowers are not densely packed. Bracteal 
scales chestnut-brown, very coriaceous and viscid. Pedicels one inch to one and a half inch long, slender for the size of the 
flower. Corolla large and very beautiful, truly bell-shaped, being broad at the base and spherical, five-lobed at the insertion 
of the pedicel. Capsules nearly two inches long, ten-furrowed. Flowers have a faint honeyed smell ; foliage inodorous. 
This exceedingly handsome and abundant species replaces the 2. Hodgsoni in ascending the mountains, and is the 
most prevalent species at 12 and 13,000 feet, conspicuous at all seasons for the large foliage, of a rusty cinnamon-colour 
underneath, and the viscid buds. It bears the name of a distinguished Indian botanist and personal friend, to whose 
zeal and liberality the botanists of India are no less publicly; than I am personally, indebted for encouragement and the 
most material aid in our common pursuits. The ‘Icones Plantarum Indie Orientalis’—an excellent work in all respects, 
and indispensable to a knowledge of Indian plants—is a remarkable instance of the perfection to which botanical illustrations 
can be brought by indomitable perseverance under the most discouraging circumstances. ‘The first plates of that work are 
equal to any produced at the era of their publication in India; the latter will compete with the best outline lithographs 
of Europe. 
Tas. XXVIL. Rhododendron Wightii. Vig. 1. Flower. 2. Stamen. 3. Peduncle, calyx, and pistil. 4. Transverse section of ovarium :— 
magnified. 5. Fruit:—natural size. 
