ERICACEAE 197 



RHODODENDRON L. 



Shrubs with alternate and often large leaves. Flowers large, 

 handsome, and usually red, often irregular. Sepals and corolla- 

 lobes usually 5. Stamens usually 10. 



About 200 species in Europe, Central Asia, Malay, and North 

 America. 



Rhododendron hirsutum L. 



An erect, branched shrub. Leaves elliptical, ovate or obovate, 

 finely crenate, more or less ciliate, otherwise glabrous, evergreen, 

 shining and bright green above, dotted on under side with scattered, 

 resinous, at first yellowish, finally rusty brown glands. Flowers in 

 terminal corymbs, nodding on erect flower-stalks. Corolla funnel- 

 shaped, a beautiful rose colour, rather paler than in the next, 

 dotted on the outside with resinous glands like the flower-stalk, 

 calyx, and ovary. 



Rocky places and steep mountain-sides in the limestone Alps 

 and sub- Alps up to over 7000 feet, and descending occasionally to 

 the valleys, as, e.g. St. Margrethen in the Rhine Valley, and the 

 banks of Lago Maggiore. Not found in the Jura. June, July. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps. 

 But only on Mont Chauffe in the French Alps, where it was dis- 

 covered in 1904. Southern Germany. 



Rhododendron ferrugineum L. Alpen-rose. (Plate III.) 



A similar-sized shrub. Leaves lanceolate to elliptical, entire, or 

 sometimes finely crenate, glabrous, dark green and shiny above, 

 somewhat revolute at the margin, coriaceous, evergreen, covered 

 on under side when young with densely packed yellowish resinous, 

 finally coalescent glands, turning rusty brown when older. Flowers 

 in terminal corymbs, more or less erect on longer flower-stalks 

 than in the last. Corolla rose-coloured (very rarely white), dotted 

 on the outside with resinous glands like the glabrous flower-stalk, 

 calyx and ovary. Leaves of the previous year cinnamon-brown in 

 colour. Leaves more crowded than in hirsutum. 



Similar habitats, but usually, though not always, on primary 

 rocks. June, July. It ascends to 8800 feet in Valais, and descends 

 to the plain in Tessin, and is occasionally found as a glacier relic 

 in turbaries in woods of the Swiss plateau. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; 

 Jura, Pyrenees, Apennines, Spain, Transylvania. 



The white-flowered variety is very rare ; the specimen figured 

 was found by Mr. Flemwell near the Planet above Argentiere in 

 Haute-Savoie. 



This Rhododendron can be grown in the garden in a mixture of 



