168 
RHODODENDRON arboreum. 
Tree Rhododendron. 
DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA— Nat. Ord. ERICEjE. 
Gen. Char. — Cal. 5-partitus, Cor. subinfundibuliformis. Stam. declinata. 
Caps. 5-locularis. 
Rhododendron arbor eum; foliis obovato-lanceolatis supra glabris sub- 
tus argenteis, floribus capitatis, corollae limbo undulato denticulato, 
germinibus pubescentibus, staminibus stylo brevioribus. 
Rhododendron arboreum, Smith, Ex. Bot. t. 6. — Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 890, 
— Don, Prodr. Fl Nep. p. 154. 
Rhododendron puniceum, " Rox. Hort. Beng. 33." 
Trunk erect, reaching to several feet in height, bearing many spreading 
branches, in irregular clusters from the extremities. Leaves from the 
top of the annual shoots, obovato-lanceolate, coriaceous, narrow at the 
base, subacute at the point, glabrous, green above, silvery white be- 
neath, the effect of excessively short and dense shining tomentum ; mid- 
rib strong, lateral veins parallel. Petioles short, rough, green and 
grooved above, red beneath. 
Flowers in large and terminal dense, hemispherical clusters or heads. Pe- 
duncles short, white, downy. Bradea; 3 at the base of each, caducous : 
the lowest half the length of the corolla, large, linear-oblong, white, 
silky and membranaceous ; the other two much smaller and narrower, 
white, downy, especially at the apex. Calyx small, 5-toothed. Corolla 
campanulato-infundibuliform, oblique, of a rich vermilion colour, vein- 
ed and marked with many dark spots or lines on the upper and inner 
side ; at the base with 5 prominences or gibbosities, which form so 
many nectaries within, of wliich the upper one is the largest, and distils 
a great quantity of a sweetish transparent fluid ; at the extremity cut 
into 5 rounded lobes, crenate and waved, lower segments the narrowest. 
Stamens 10, declined: filaments of unequal length, filiform, white; a«- 
thers small, brown, incumbent, obovate, 2-celled, the cells opening each 
with a pore at the extremity ; jiollen yellow ; granules in threes. P?V- 
til: germen small, ovate, greenish, ribbed, pubescent; style filiform, 
white, as long as the limb of the corolla, and longer than the filaments ; 
stigma capitate, red. 
VOL. III. 
