Creeping shrubs, 20-70 cm tall; young shoots ca. 2 mm in diameter below inflorescence; sparsely tomentose and glandular; bud scales persistent. Petiole 4-7 mm long, glandular-hairy and sparsely floccose-tomentose; leaf blade leathery, obovate to orbicular, 1.2-2.4 cm long, 1.2-1.6 cm wide, base broadly cuneate, narrowly decurrent; apex rounded or retuse, sometimes mucronate; abaxial surface purple or green, glandular hairs few or absent; adaxial surface green, glabrous; midrib grooved adaxially; lateral veins 6-7-paired, impressed adaxially. Inflorescence 1-2-flowered. Pedicel 1.5-2 cm, densely glandular-hairy and puberulent; calyx saucer-shaped, fleshy; lobes 5, 1-3 mm, margin glandular-ciliate; corolla tubular-campanulate, crimson, 2.9-3.8 cm, with 5 basal nectar pouches; lobes 5, suborbicular, 0.9 cm long, ca. 1.3 cm wide, emarginate; stamens 10, 1.5-1.7 cm, filaments glabrous; ovary conoid, ca. 4.5 mm, densely glandular-hairy and tomentose; style glabrous; stigma small. Capsule cylindric, ca. 10 mm long, 6-8 mm wide.

Rhododendron forrestii Balf. f. ex Diels:
Burma (Asia)
China (Asia)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [NE Myanmar].

Rhododendron forrestii is occurring in SE Xizang and NW Yunnan of China, NE Myanmar.

Dwarf creeping shrubs, 20–60(–90) m tall; young shoots ca. 2 mm in diam. below inflorescence; sparsely tomentose and glandular; bud scales persistent. Petiole 4–8 mm, glandular-hairy and sparsely floccose-tomentose; leaf blade leathery, obovate to orbicular, 1.3–2.8 × 0.8–1.7 cm; base broadly cuneate, narrowly decurrent; apex rounded or retuse, sometimes mucronate; abaxial surface pale purple or green, whitish puberulent with a few glandular hairs, or glaucous and papillate when mature; adaxial surface green, glabrous; midrib grooved adaxially; lateral veins 6–7-paired, impressed adaxially. Inflorescence 1(or 2)-flowered. Pedicel 1(–2.5) cm, densely glandular-hairy and puberulent; calyx saucer-shaped, fleshy; lobes 5, 1–3 mm, margin glandular-ciliate; corolla tubular-campanulate, crimson, 2.9–3.8 cm, with 5 basal nectar pouches; lobes 5, suborbicular, 0.9–1 × ca. 1.5 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, 1.5–1.8 cm, filaments glabrous; ovary conoid, ca. 4.5 mm, densely glandular-hairy and tomentose; style glabrous; stigma small. Capsule cylindric, ca. 10 × 6–7 mm. Fl. May–Jul, fr. Oct–Nov.

  

Rhododendron forrestii subsp. forrestii is close relative of Rhododendron forrestii subsp. papillatum, but differs from the latter in its leaf blade 1.2-1.6 cm wide (vs. 0.8-1.2 cm), abaxial surface purple or green (vs. glaucous-papillate), glandular haris few or absent (vs. conspicuous).

Moist stony pastures, moist stony slopes, rocky slopes, cliffs; 3000–4200 m.

  

Growing in moist stony pastures, rocky slopes; 3000-4100 m.

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / parasite
Oidium ericinum parasitises Rhododendron forrestii

Flowering from May to July; fruiting from October to November.

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.


No available public DNA sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 5
Species With Barcodes: 1

Rhododendron forrestii var. tumescens Cowan & Davidian (Rhododendron Year Book 6: 69. 1951), described from Xizang, Yunnan, and Myanmar, is intermediate between subsp. forrestii and subsp. papillatum and does not merit formal recognition.  

Rhododendron ×pyrrhoanthum I. B. Balfour (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 12: 154. 1920) was described from a rogue hybrid in a batch of R. forrestii raised from seed collected by George Forrest in Yunnan. It is known only in cultivation.