BALFOUR—NEW SPECIES OF RHODODENDRON. 165 
slightly fragrant. Leaves with white bloom underneath. F. 
Kingdon Ward. No. 1568. 21st May ror4. 
There is no doubt about the identity of Ward’s Burmese 
plant (No. 1568) with Forrest’s plant (No. 12,065) of the rhodo- 
dendron forest of the Shweli-Salween divide. Nor do I think 
the identification with these of Forrest’s fruiting plant (No. 
8923) can be questioned. Yet the habitats of the Burmese 
and Yunnan plants are very different. Its growth as a shrub 
in Yunnan may be correlated perhaps with its habitat—rocky 
slopes. The white wax-coated underleaf is certainty more a 
character of open rocky slopes than of damp rain forest. 
Forrest’s specimen (No. 12,064) must also, I think, be placed 
here. It has all the technical characters of the species but has 
smaller leaves. 
The very white-grey under-side of the leaf is a striking feature 
of the species. The grey surface is composed of short cupola- 
like epidermal papillae coated with wax. The peltate scales 
have hardly any stalk and do not arise in a real pit of the sur- 
face, but only on a slight depression out of which they project 
and show a large broad central boss with a broad wing. 
The whole characters seem to place this species in the series 
with fasciculate inflorescences to which Rh. Augustinii, Hemsl. 
and such like forms belong. The series is a rare one in West 
Yunnan, and I do not find any species which I would select as 
of particularly near affinity to Rh. zaleucum. But I have not 
had as yet material or opportunity to study satisfactorily the 
members of the series. 
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