Tal . m.
RHODODENDRON PENDULUM,M . f l .
Pendulous Rhododendron.
T a b . X I I I .
Fruticulus epiphytus pendulus, caulibus gracillimis dichotome ramosis, ramulis pedunculis petiolis brevibus foliisque subter (junioribus
utrinque) tomento fnlvo laxo dense vestitis, foliis elliptico-oblongis subacutis apiculatis convexis supeme nitidis, pedunculis terminalibus
subbinis rarius axillaribus parvis, calyce profunde 5-lobo hirsuto, lobis ellipticis submembranaceis ajqualibus, coroll® albaj extus
lepidotse tubo brevissimo, limbo patente 5-lobo, lobis acqualibus subundulatis integris, staminibus 10, filamentis (nunc 2-3 basi inter
se coalitis) rectis inferne dilatatis supra medium dense barbatis, antheiis magnis obovatis, ovario parvo densisgimp fulvo-vüloso,
capsula brevi calycem persistentem vix superante villosa basi lepidota.
Hab. Sikkim-Himalaya; pendulous from the limbs of tall Pine-trees (Mies WebUana and Brunoniana); elev. 9-11,000 feet, rarely found
upon rocks; often covered with JJsnea.
S tem three to four feet long, sparingly but dichotomously branched, branches scarcely stouter than a crow’s quill: young
shoots very villous. Leaves chiefly confined to the apices of the ultimate branches, on short petioles, spreading, between
elliptical and oblong, acute or nearly so, and further tipped with a short mucro, smooth (never lepidote) and shining above,
the margins a little recurved, an inch and a half to two inches long, and about three-quarters of an inch broad, below
densely clothed with ferruginous tomentum. Scales of the flower-buds coriaceous, the outer lepidote, the inner villous.
Peduncles two or three from the apex of the young leafy branches, very short, but longer than the petioles, ferruginously
villous, bearing one or two linear bracteas. Flowers small. Calyx large in proportion to the size of the flower, deeply
cut into five, oval, membranaceous lobes, lepidote below, villous. Corolla pure white, about an inch in diameter, externally
lepidote, tube very short, gradually expanding into the nearly equally five-lobed limb-. lobes rotundate, waved at the margin,
entire. Stamens ten: filaments straight, sometimes more or less combined at the base, and there dilated; below the
middle is a dense mass of white hairs; anthers large in proportion to the flower. Ovary ovate, densely villous, lepidote
towards the base. Style very short, curved upwards, and thickened beneath the stigma, which is a convex, scarcely lobed
disc. Capsule broadly ovate, acute, hairy, four to five lines long, five-celled, five-valved.
This species is inodorous, very distinct, but clearly allied to R. camellieeflorum, Hook, fil., the lepidote character of
that species giving place to a denser fulvous or ferruginous tomentum here. In the size and colour and regular lobes of
the corolla, and also in the general form of the calyx, the present may be compared with the R. albifiorum* of the Rocky
Mountains of North America, but in little else. Growing, as it does, an epiphyte, upon the trunks of trees in the gloomy
and almost impenetrable forests, it is a plant very difficult of detection.
* Hook. FI. Bor. Am. vol. ii. p. 48. f. 183.
Tab. X m . Rhododendron pendulum. Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Stamens. 8. Pistil. 4. Transverse section of ovary -.—magnified. 5. Capsule
with its persistent calyx :—natural size.