Sect. IV. PENTANTHERA G. Don 1 



Flowers from a terminal bud, the leafy shoots from separate, lower, lateral buds; 

 corolla funnel-form-campanulate to funnel-form; stamens 5. Leaves deciduous, 

 scattered on the shoots. Fruit more or less cylindric. Shrubs usually with stiff, 

 ascending branches. Shoots villose or glabrous. 



This section contains some 15 species and is the most widely distributed of the 

 four sections which we are discussing. Two species grow in eastern Asia, one in 

 Japan and the other in China; one species, R. luteum Sweet, grows on the Caucasus, 

 in the Pontus region in Asia Minor and in parts of eastern Europe. The others are 

 confined to North America, where they are widely distributed. 



Rhododendron molle G. Don, Gen. Syst. III. 846 (1834). 



Azalea mollis Blume, Cat. Gewass. Buitenz. 44 (1823); Bijd. Fl. Ned. Ind. 

 853 (1825). 



Azalea sinensis Loddiges, Bot. Cab. IX. t. 885 (1824). — De Candolle, Prodr. 

 VII.pt. 2, 718 (1839). — Fortune, Wanderings in China, 154 (1847); Tea Coun- 

 tries of China 154 (1852); Residence among Chinese, 28 (1857); Suringar in 

 Gartenfl. LVII. 505 (1908). 



Rhododendron sinense 0. flavescens Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 1, III. t. 290 

 (1829). 



Rhododendron sinense Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 1, III. sub. t. 290 (1829). — 

 Hovey, Am. Gard. Mag. II. 142, 179 (1836). — Hance in Journ. Bot. XVI. 

 109 (1878). — Hemsley in Jour. Idnn. Soc. XXVI. 30 (1889), as to the 

 Chinese plant. — Suringar in Gartenfl. LVII. 516 (1908). — W. Watson, 

 Rhodod. and Azaleas, 112 (1911), in part. — Schneider, III. Handb. Laub- 

 holzk. II. 497, figs. 328 g-h, 329 a-b (1911). — Rehder & Wilson in Sargent, 

 PI. Wilson. I. 549 (1913). — Bean, Trees and Shrubs Brit. Isl. II. 379 

 (1914).— Millais, Rhodod. (1917), in part. 



Rhododendron sinense a. flammeum Sweet, Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. 1, III. sub. t. 

 290 (1829). 



Azalea pontica var. sinensis Lindley in Bot. Reg. XV. t. 1253 (1829), poor 

 figure. 



Azalea sinensis a. genuina Maximowicz in Suppl. Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 

 1869, 11. 



China: prov. Hupeh, stony hills and Pine-woods 15 miles below 

 Ichang on right bank of Yangtsze River, alt. 30-300 m., April 24, 1907 

 (flowers), January 18, 1908 (fruit), E. H. Wilson (No. 800); same 

 locality, A. Henry (No. 268); prov. Hunan, near Changsha, among 

 shrubs, alt. 70-400 m., April 7, 1918, Dr. Handel-Mazzetti (No. 2342); 

 prov. Chekiang, vicinity of Ningpo, 1908, D. MacGregor; near Chang- 

 hua, rocky banks, alt. 300 m., July 12, 1915, F . N. Meyer (No. 1543); 



1 For synonyms and further details see page 124. 

 95 



