HUTCHINSON—THE MADDENI SERIES OF RHODODENDRON. 15 
specifically different from R. formosum. It was found on the 
summit of the Khasia Hills at an elevation of about 4000 ft. 
by Mr J. Gibson, by whom it was introduced in 1837 into the 
gardens of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth. 
The herbarium specimens at Kew show almost every gradation 
in the ciliation of the mature leaves, from entirely glabrous 
to long-ciliate ; the young leaves are almost invariably densely’ 
ciliate. The degree of ciliation is no doubt regulated by the 
age and vigour of individual plants, the older plants, like 
R. yunnanense, tending to lose their hairs altogether 
The status of the varieties salicifolia and inaequalis of 
C. B. Clarke in the Flora of British India deserves closer study 
than has perhaps hitherto been accorded them. They seem 
to me to be worthy of specific rank, and I am confident they 
would appear so if all were in cultivation. I have only seen 
R. formosum in gardens, where it is still usually grown under 
the name R. Gibsont. Some future collector in the Khasia 
Hills will be able to throw much further light on this question. 
The dried material of the three forms in this country is scarcely 
sufficient to give a final opinion, but it is enough to show that 
these plants should by no means be “‘ lumped ”’ together under 
one name. There is very great variation in R. formosum as 
shown by cultivated plants in the Temperate House, Kew, but 
I do not think it possible to segregate them into distinct varieties 
or even forms. 
Rhododendron inaequale, Hutchinson. 
(R. formosum, var. inaequalis, C. B. Clarke.) 
Excepting Mr C. B. Clarke’s record from Shillong, Khasia 
Hills, this species would appear to have been gathered only 
on the Kollong Rock, a remarkable hill visited by Hooker in 
July 1850, and described (Himal. Journ. ii. p. 293 with 
drawing) as follows :—‘“‘ We twice visited a very remarkable 
hill, called Kollong, which rises as a dome of granite 5400 feet 
high, ten or twelve miles south-west of Myrung, and conspicuous 
from all directions. . . . All the streams rise in flat marshy 
depressions amongst the hills with which the whole country 
is covered; and both these features, together with the flat 
clay marshes into which the rivers expand, are very suggestive 
of tidal action. Rock is hardly anywhere seen, except in the 
immediate vicinity of Kollong, where are many scattered 
boulders of fine-grained gneiss, of which are made the broad 
stone slabs, placed as seats, and the other erections of this 
singular people. We repeatedly remarked cones of earth, clay, 
and pebbles, about twelve feet high, upon the hills, which 
