• Scientific Name: Rhododendron mariesii Hemsl. & E.H.Wilson
• Ref: Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1907:44. 1907
• English Common Name: Maries’ rhododendron
• Chinese Common Name: 满山红 mǎnshānhóng
• Japanese Common Name: シュジョウツツジ [シュジョウ躑躅] shujoutsutsuji
• Family: Ericaceae
• Genus: Rhododendron
• Distribution: Open forests, submontane regions; 600–1500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Zhejiang.
• Photo: 03/23/2013

Shrubs, deciduous, 1–3 m tall; branches verticillate, softly yellowish-brown hairy, glabrescent. Petiole 5–7 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade papery to almost leathery, elliptic, ovate-lanceolate or triangular-ovate, 4–7.5 × 2–4 cm; base obtuse or subrounded; margin slightly revolute; apex acute and mucronate; both surfaces yellowish brown-villous, glabrescent, rarely abaxial surface thinly persistently floccose. Inflorescence usually 2-flowered: flowers appearing before the leaves. Pedicel 0.7–1 cm, densely softly yellow-brown hairy; calyx shallowly lobed, densely softly yellow-brown hairy; corolla funnelform, purplish red, with purple-red flecks on upper lobes, 3–3.5 cm; tube ca. 4 mm in diam.; lobes deeply divided, oblong, both surfaces glabrous; apex obtuse and rounded; stamens 8–10, unequal, shorter than, or as long as the corolla, filaments flat, glabrous; ovary ovoid, densely yellow-brown villous; style longer than stamens, glabrous. Capsule ellipsoid-ovoid, 6–9(–18) mm, densely shiny-brown-villous. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Nov. (Flora of China)

03/20/2016