312 BALFOUR—NEW SPECIES OF RHODODENDRON. 
an intermixture about equal of dark,brown and paler scales. 
The species showing this character are :— 
Rh. cuneatum, W. W. Sm. 
Rh. nitidulum, Rehd. et Wils. 
Rh. tapetiforme, Balf. f. et Ward. 
Rh. tapetiforme is, as its name suggests, a carpet-forming 
species ; the others are shrubs, in the case of Rh. cuneatum as 
much as 1.5 m. high. Rh. cuneatum is the largest leaved and 
largest flowered species in the whole Lapponicum series, and the 
larger leaves, as much as 6 cm. long, often do not suggest the 
series at all. But it has often quite small leaves, and I think it 
finds its right place in the series. Rh. nitidulum gets its name 
from the glistening, amber-coloured scales on the upper-leaf 
surface—a feature well seen also in Rh. scintillans of the dis- 
contiguous scaled group, and in others occasionally. The flower 
trusses are I—2- or 3-flowered. The flower colour, bright rose in 
Rh. tapetiforme, rose lavender in Rh. cuneatum, is violet purple 
in Rh. nitidulum. Stamens are 10. The style, glabrous in all, 
is longer than the stamens in Rh. cuneatum (very long) and Rh. 
mitidulum, equalling them in Rh. tapetiforme. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
I. Corolla lepidote. Leaves 3-6 cm. long é ‘ cuneatum, 
Corolla elepidote. Leaves 2 cm. long 2. 
2. Flowers rose. Style equalling stamens —_ tapetiforme. 
_ Flowers violet purple. Style longer than 
stamens , ‘ : ; ; nitidulum. 
Rh. cuneatum alone of this group is in cultivation, and of 
its right to a position here I am in some doubt. 
SUB-SERIES E. 
Scales of under-leaf indumentum contiguous or nearly so, 
relatively large, bicolorous, dark brown or rufous and pale 
coloured intermixed usually equally. 
A number of the species of the Lapponicum series, including 
Rh. lapponicum, Wahlenb. itself, which have contiguous scales 
on the under-leaf surface show a fulvous tint there which con- 
trasts with the bright grey or yellowish-grey seen in many other 
species of the series. The cause of this is that the scales are of 
two colours—some of them brown and these more prominent, 
others of them remaining a pale grey-green. Often, too, the 
scales may not be quite contiguous, leaving chinks through which 
the epidermal surface is visible. These bicolour scales are about 
equally intermixed in very old leaves, the dark brown which 
are more projected from the surface may be more numerous. 
