84 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxx 



nothing about Rh. trichocladum, Franch., as an ally of 

 Rh. in'ekongense, Franch. 



In 1906 I endeavoured to match Forrest's specimen No. 

 698 — this is the same as Monbeig No. 7 in Kew Herbarium : 

 so like are they they might have been plucked from the 

 same bush — with specimens named by Franchet in the 

 Paris Herbarium, and found the match in a specimen named 

 Rh. inekongense, Franch., without entering into a critical 

 investigation of distinction from RJi. trichocladum, Franch. 

 Now having good material of Rh. trichocladum, Franch., 

 both dried and living specimens of Forrest's and dried ones 

 of Monbeig's plants, I am satisfied that they do not differ 

 from Rh. trichocladum, Franch. This adds, I think, to the 

 evidence pointing towards the identity of Rli. mekongense, 

 Franch., with R](. trichocladum, Franch. 



Turning now to the words of the technical description of 

 the two species Rh. trichocladum, Franch., and Rh. Tnekon- 

 gense, Franch. (the adult leaves of Rh. nnekongense, Franch., 

 are unknown), the only characters available for distinction 

 are: — 



a. The corolla cup-shaped, 1 cm. long in Rh. mekon- 

 gense, Franch. ; rotate and 2 cm. long in Rh. 

 trichocladum, Franch. 



h. The ovary longer than the style in Rli. mekongense, 

 Franch. ; shorter in Rli. trichocladum, Franch. 



Short corollas occur, however, in Rh. trichocladum, Franch., 

 and its rotateness is often hardly marked — easily merging 

 into cup-shaped. 



As to the relative length of the ovary and style Franchet 

 writes, " ovarium crebre lepidotum, stylo glabro longius." 

 This would be an unusual character in this series of 

 Rhododendrons — though it is met with in tlie Lapponicum 

 group and in the Anthopogon group — and I suspect a 

 misprint : perhaps we should read, " stylo glabro longis- 

 simo." The character named by Franchet does not appear 

 in Soulie's specimen No. 1004. 



What I have said about its relationship with Rlt. tricho- 

 cladum, Franch., does not end my difficulty over Rh. 

 mekongense, Franch. Kingdon Ward collected in the Ka- 

 gwr-pw glacier valley, which is near Atuntsu, a pretty 



