192 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxi 



E.N.W. Yunnan : — Mountains of the Chungtien plateau. 

 Alt. 9000 ft. In open thickets. Shrub of 20 ft. Flowers 

 deep plum-crimson, in bud black-crimson. G. Forrest. 

 No. 12,416. March 1914. 



A very tine species. By its oblong leaves this species, 

 which belongs to the Irroratuiu series, is easily picked out 

 amongst its allies. Rh. agastum is the only other one of 

 the series with like leaf -form. The character which 

 impresses one particularly in this species is its glabrous- 

 ness — calyx, corolla, stamens, ovary, and style all are 

 glabrous, and as these are either glandular or puberulous 

 in Rli. agastum the differentiation of the two is easily 

 made. The punctulations on the leaves are not very con- 

 spicuous. Rh. eritiimiin is a plant of the Chungtien 

 plateau and is only known from there. Rh. irroratuoyi 

 extends into the plateau in a remarkably robust form, 

 and these two species have the most northerly distribu- 

 tion of the Irroratum series. Like RJt. irroratum, our 

 species has somewhat glaucous foliage, but the leaf-form 

 of Rh. eritimum is very different from the pointed lanceo- 

 late or oblanceolate type in RJl. irroratunn, and then its 

 large truss of red flowers with 7-lobed corolla and 14 

 stamens amongst other characters distinguish it. 



Rhododendron gymnantiiuin, Diels in Notes R.B.G. Edin., 

 V (1912), 211.1 

 Shrub with slender branches. Branches a year old about 

 3 mm. in diameter glabrescent and shining but still showing 



' The followini^ is the description j^'iveu Vjy Diels : — 



Rh. fjymncmthmn, Diels. — Frutex 0-9-2 in. altus. Folia persistentia ; 

 auptrionini petiolu.s ca. 1 cm. lungus, lamina papyracea, glabra, oldance- 

 olata, basim versus sensim anguslata, apice acuta, 10-12 cm. longa, 

 2'5-3 cm. lata. Uacemus brevis Lerminalis, pedunculi glaljri, sepala 

 brevia ca. 1 mm. longa, corolla ini'uiidibulit'ormi-campanulata, rosea, 

 basi purpurea, superius purj)ureo-punctata vel striolata, ',i-!:)-4 cm. longa, 

 ore 2-5-3 cm. lata ; lind)i lobi rotundati, r.')-2 cm. diamet. Stamina 10, 

 tilamenta basi ])aulo latiora, glabra, 2-3 cm. longa. Ovarium 0-5-0-6 cm. 

 longum, cf)ni(;uin, glabra m, stylus ca. 3 cm. longus. 



W.N.W. Yunnan: — Mekoiig-Salween divide, N.W. of Tseku. Alt. 

 13,000 ft. Lat. 28° 12' N. Open rocky situations. Slirul) of 3-6 ft. 

 Flowers rose with crimson markings. 



Similar to Uk. lukiawjenxe, Fraucli. (Tseku, Soulie, No. 1000) but 

 dilfi-ring by shorter and narrower leaves, larger flowers, and the pedicels 

 not Ijeing tomentose. [What Diels refers to here is the axis of inflores- 

 cence, not the pedicels.] 



