Icove, Bonham, fc Reeve, in
10.
RHODODENDRON ARGENTEUM, Eook.ju.
Silvery Rhododendron.
Ta b . IX.
Arboreum, foiiis amplis subcoriaceis obovato-oblongis acutis in petiolum crassum attenuatis planis utrinque glaberrimis subtns argenteis costa
nervisque prominulis, bracteis dcciduis dense sericeis, pedunculis brevibus crassis puberulis, calyce brevissimo obscure lobato, corolla
(inter maximas) alba late campanulata, limbi segments breviusculis bilobis, staminibus 10, filamentis glabris, ovarii pubescentis loculis
subsedecim, stylo flexuoso crasso, stigmatc dilatato.
H ab, Sikkim-Himalaya; summit o f Sinchul, Suradah, and Tonglo, elev. 8,000-10,000 feet. FI. April.
A tree thirty feet high: trunks solitary, or two or three together, spreading, branched above, the bark pale, the
branches leafy at the apex. Leaves very beautiful in the leaf-buds, erect and silky, at first enveloped in large scales, so
closely imbricated and so large, as to resemble the cones of some species of pine, the outer or lower scales broad and
coriaceous, glabrous, coloured (reddish-brown), the innermost ones oblong-spathulate, pubescent. When fully developed
the leaves are among the largest of the genus, six inches to a foot long, three to five inches broad, coriaceous, nearly plane,
glabrous, full green above with parallel rather closely placed nerves, beneath silvery white, with the costa and nerves
prominent. Petioles short. Bracteas deciduous, densely silky. Flowers two to three inches long, two to two and a half
inches in diameter, always white.
In the silvery underside of the foliage, but in nothing else, this resembles R. arboreum; while in the much divided limb
.of the corolla, the ten-celled ovary, the stout flexuose style and large stigma, it approaches R. Falconeri, but only in those
particulars. The blossoms are only second in size to R. JDaUiousia. On Sinchul, the higher parts of the mountain, at
from 8,00.0 to 9,000 feet of elevation, are more or less clothed with i t : on Tonglo, as it approaches 10,000, it is suddenly
replaced by the following species, R. Falconeri. It seems to be shy of flowering, this season at least (1848); for it was
with difficulty I could procure sufficient specimens to complete my drawing.
T ab. IX. Rhododendron argenteum. Pig. 1. Stamen. 2. Pistil. 8. Section of ovary :—magnified.