382 RHODODENDRON 



R. SUTCHUENENSE, Franchet. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8362.) 



A stout, evergreen shrub, eventually 10 ft. high ; young shoots very thick 

 (\ in. or rather more in diameter), covered with a greyish floss. Leaves 

 6 to 10 ins. long, i^ to 2^ ins. wide ; tapering at both ends, more 

 gradually towards the base, dark green and smooth above, paler and also 

 smooth beneath except on the midrib, which is slightly downy ; stalk I in. 

 long, stout, yellowish, and wrinkled. Flowers 3 ins. across, rosy lilac with 

 purple spots on the upper side, produced in March in terminal clusters 

 6 or 8 ins. across. Corolla five-lobed, open bell-shaped ; calyx smooth, with 

 five broad, abruptly pointed lobes ; stamens twelve tp fifteen, downy near the 

 base ; flower-stalk about I in. long. 



Native of W. Hupeh, China ; introduced for Messrs Veitch by Wilson, 

 in 1901. This species, which flowers when quite small, is one of the finest 

 and most striking of new Chinese rhododendrons. It first flowered in the 

 Coombe Wood nursery in March 1910, a season which renders it liable to 

 injury by spring frosts. Allied to R. calophytum. 



R. TALIENSE, Franchet. 



An evergreen shrub, up to 10 ft. high; young shoots clothed with pale 

 scurfy down. Leaves thick and leathery, oblong to oval, 2 to 4 ins. long, 

 f to 1 1 ins. wide ; rounded or slightly auricled at the base, abruptly narrowed 

 at the apex to a short fine point ; dark green and smooth above, clothed 

 beneath with a close rusty-brown felt ; stalk stout, j? in. long, scurfy-downy. 

 Flowers six to twelve in a truss, the corolla blush-white, about i^ ins. wide 

 and deep ; stamens ten, downy at the base ovary smooth ; calyx small, with 

 rounded ovate lobes. 



Discovered in Yunnan, China, -by the Abbe Delavay ; introduced by 

 Wilson from Szechuen in 1903. 



R. THOMSONI, Hooker fil. 



(Bot. Mag., t 4997.) 



An evergreen, glabrous shrub, up to 12 ft. high and more in diameter in 

 the Cornish gardens. Leaves roundish oval, 2 to 4 ins. long, two-thirds as 

 wide ; round at the apex except for a short, abrupt tip, and rounded or slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base ; dark green above, blue-white below ; stalk about 

 | in. long. Flowers rich blood-red, 2 to 3 ins. across, produced in March in 

 loose clusters, about six or seven together ; corolla open, bell-shaped, five- 

 lobed ; calyx unusually large, cup-shaped, | to f in. across, \ in. deep ; stamens 

 ten, and like the ovary, smooth. 



Native of Nepal and Sikkim at 11,000 to 13,000 ft. ; introduced in 1849. 

 It is hardy at Kew, but needs a sheltered position, and even then its flowers 

 and young growths are very liable to injury by late frost. In the Cornish 

 gardens it is magnificent. It is a very distinct species ; -the large blood-red 

 corolla, the extraordinarily large calyx, and the vividly glaucous under-surface 

 of the leaves furnish three characters not united in any other species. It 

 has been used to some extent by hybridists, and among its progeny are 

 LUSCOMBEI (with Fortunei), SHILSONI (with barbatum). HARRISII (with 

 arboreum), and "Ascot Brilliant" (with some garden variety). Of these, 

 Luscombei, with soft rosy blossoms 3 ins. across produced in loose trusses in 

 April ; and "Ascot Brilliant," raised by the late John Standish, with flowers 



