ERICACEAE. 



Determined by Alfred Rehder and E. H. Wilson, 

 RHODODENDRON L. 



Subgen. I. LEPIDORHODIUM Koehne. 



Leaves more or less lepidote, persistent, rarely deciduous. Ovary densely 

 lepidote, 5-celled; stamens 5-10. 



Sect. 1. PoGONANTHUM G. Don. 



Corolla salver-shaped, style and stamens enclosed in its tube, densely villose at 

 the mouth; flowers terminal. Leaves glabrous and lustrous above, beneath 

 densely covered with partly stipitate and overlapping scales. 



Rhododendron cephalanthum Franchet in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 

 XXXII. 9 (1885); XXXIII. 234 (1886). — Hemsley in Jour. Linn. 

 Soc. XXVI. 21 (1889). 



Western Szech'uan: Ching-chi Hsien, uplands, Ta-pao-shan, 

 alt. 2600-3100 m., September 15, 1908 (No. 3453; bush 30-80 cm, 

 tall, forming thickets, flowers white). 



Very rare in Szech'uan, and only seen on the high mountains separating Wa- 

 shan and Wa-wu-shan. 



Our flowering specimens seem to differ at the first glance from the tj-pe by 

 their depauperate inflorescence bearing only 2 or 3 flowers, but this may be ac- 

 counted for by the fact that they represent a second flowering in Sejit ember; the 

 inflorescences with young fruits formed the previous spring, bear many capsules. 



Rhododendron rufescens Franchet in Jour, de Bot. IX. 397 (1895). — 

 Schneider, III. Handb. Lauhholzk. II. 480, fig. 318 q (1909).— 

 Hemsley & Wilson in Kew Bull. Misc. Inform. 1910, 117. 



Western Szech'uan : west of Kuan Hsien, Pan-lan-shan, uplands, 

 alt. 4100-4300 m., June 24, 1908 (No. 3455; bush 0.5-1.25 m. tall, 

 flowers white to bluish) ; without precise locality, alt. 3600-4000 m., 

 June and October 1904 (Veitch Exped. No. 3930). 



This is a rather uncommon alpine species, distinguished by its shining green 

 leaves, red-brown below, large membranous, ciliolate calyx and non-lepidote 

 corolla. The specimens before us differ from the original description in the leaves 

 being oval or elliptic-oblong, but apparently they are not specifically different. 



503 



