• Scientific Name: Rhododendron latoucheae Franchet
• Ref: Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 46:210. 1899
• Synonyms: Azalea elliptica Kuntze; Rhododendron ellipticum var. leptosanthum (Hayata) S.S.Ying; R. leiopodum Hayata; R. leptosanthum Hayata; R. tanakae Hayata
• English Common Name: deer horns rhododendron
• Chinese Common Name: 西施花 Xīshī huā 鹿角杜鹃 lùjiǎo dùjuān
• Japanese Common Name: セイシカ [聖紫花] seishika
• Family: Ericaceae
• Genus: Rhododendron
• Distribution: Mixed forests, rocky mountain slopes; 100–2700 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Japan (including Ryukyu Islands)]

Shrubs or small trees, 2–7 m tall; shoots stout. Petioles to 15 mm, glabrous; leaf blade narrowly elliptic-lanceolate oblanceolate or ovate-elliptic, 5–11(–13) × 1.4–5.5 cm; base cuneate to broadly cuneate; margin slightly revolute; apex acuminate; both surfaces glabrous; midrib impressed adaxially, obsolete abaxially; lateral veins net-veined, slightly prominent on both surfaces. Inflorescence subapical, 1(–2)-flowered. Pedicel stout, 2–3 cm, glabrous; calyx lobes obscure or fine and triangular, rarely linear, then to 10 mm, margin and apex finely ciliate; corolla funnelform, pink to white, 3.5–4.8 cm, lobes long-ovate, glabrous, emarginate; stamens 10, included in tube or partly exserted, filaments flat, puberulent below middle; ovary cylindric, truncate below insertion of style, 3.5–8 × 0.2–0.4 mm, dark brown, glabrous; style 4–8 cm, exserted, glabrous. Capsules cylindric, ca. 40 × 4 mm; style deciduous. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Sep–Oct. (Flora of China)

03/21/2017, Hangzhou Botanical Garden

03/21/2017, Hangzhou Botanical Garden

03/21/2017, Hangzhou Botanical Garden