Saturday 9 May 2009

Rhododendron roylii Hook.f.


Rhododendron roylii Hook.f. -- Rhod. Sikkim-Himal. t. 7.


The Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya 1: , pl. 7. 1849.

Annotation: as "roylii", but honors "Dr. Royle"
Rhododendron roylei Hook. f.

accepted name:Rhododendron cinnabarinum var. roylei (Hook. f.) Hutch. The Species of Rhododendron 222. 1930.
Rhododendron cinnabarinum Hook. f. The Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya 1: , pl. 8. 1849.
Rhododendron cinnabarinum subsp. cinnabarinum (Batalin) H. Hara
朱砂杜鹃(原亚种) zhu sha du juan (yuan ya zhong)
Leaf blade oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, or ovate to elliptic. Corolla tubular to narrowly campanulate, yellow to cinnabar red (sometimes 2-colored) or deep plum crimson; lobes without scales abaxially.
Forests, open woodlands, among shrubs, hillsides; 1900–4000 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal, Sikkim].
Two varieties have been recorded from China: var. cinnabarinum and var. roylei (J. D. Hooker) Hutchinson in J. B. Stevenson, Sp. Rhodod. 222. 1930; R. roylei J. D. Hooker, Rhododendr. Sikkim-Himalaya 1: t. 7. 1849 [“roylii”]). The latter taxon is distinguished by its deep plum crimson corolla. The populations of var. cinnabarinum in W Bengal, India, exhibit a range of corolla colors, from yellow or orange, through 2-colored forms, to deep cinnabar.
Rhododendron cinnabarinum var. purpurellum Cowan (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 21: 147. 1951) has also been recorded from China and was accepted by Yang in FRPS (57(1): 136. 1999). However, Cullen (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 39: 124. 1980) treated it as a purple-flowered variant in the synonymy of R. cinnabarinum subsp. xanthocodon (R. xanthocodon in the present account).

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