RHODODENDRON FULGENS, h oo lj îi.
Brilliant Rhododendron.
Tab. XXV.
fiâtes. flRnsissinip. ramosus, foliosus, ramis cortice papyraceo tectis, ramnlis pedunculis petiolis ovariis foliisque superne glaberriuus, foliis
petioktis late obovato- v. ovato-elliptieis apice rotundatis basi cordatis margine recurvo subtus tomento fioccoso ferrugineo dense
vestifcis, capitulis densifloris, pedicellis brevibus, calyce obsoleto v. brevissimo disciformi lobato, corolla intense sanguinea campanulata,
tubo subcompresso, limbi lobis 5 rotundatis breviusculis recurvis, staminibus 10, fdamentis glabris, ovario conico basi turgido apice
troncato 8-loculari 8-sulcato, capsulis oblongo-cylindraceis obtusis gibbosis glaucis purpureis.
Hab. Sikkim-Himalaya ; mountain slopes and spurs, elev. 12-14,000 feet ; abundant. Fl. June ; fr. November and December.
This, the richest ornament of the alpine region in the month of June, forms a very prevalent shrub at the elevations
assigned to it, not yielding in abundance to its constant associates, B. eeruginosum and JR. Maddeni, and, like the former,
pushing forth young leaves of a beautiful verdigris-green in July and August. The foliage is perennial, and gives
a singular hue to the bleak snowy mountain-faces immediately overhung by the perpetual snow, contrasting in August in
broad masses or broken clumps with the bright scarlet of the Berberry, the golden yellow of the fading Birch and Mountain
Ash, the lurid heavy green of the perennial Juniper, and the bleak raw brown of the withered herbage. Whether, then, for
the glorious effulgence in spring of its deep scarlet blossoms, which appear to glow like fire in the short hour of morning
sunlight, or the singular tint it at other seasons wears, this is among the most striking of the plants which lend to these
inhospitable regions the varied hues which are denied to the comparatively habitable but gloomy forests of the temperate
zone on the same mountains.
Individual shrubs are generally of a rounded outline, about four feet high, and twice as much in diameter, and
when growing together they compose an impenetrable thicket, as annoying to the traveller as B. Hodgsoni is at lower
elevations. The ramuli are bright green, the thickness of a little finger. Leaves four inches long and three broad, pretty
constant in form, and always coriaceous in texture, with a glossy upper surface, and dense woolly clothing underneath,
which wholly obliterates the venation. Corolla of a deep, bright blood-red, somewhat fleshy in texture, highly polished and
shining. Anthers dark brown; filaments pink. Style rather short, curved, ending in a truncate stigma, not materially
enlarged. The capsules are one to two inches long, very stout, of a fine plum-purple colour, and covered with a glaucous
bloom.
There is no pubescence, glands, or squamae, on any part of the plant, except on the inner bracteal scales, which are
silky, and on the very young foliage, which has often a little villous pubescence: the latter, which is wholly scentless, is not
to be distinguished from that of B. eeruginosum.
Tab. XXV. Rhododendron fidgens. Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Stamen. 8. Peduncle, calyx, and ovarium. 4. Transverse section of ovarium.
5. Fruit:—all but figures 1 and 5 magnified.