- Scientific Name: Rhododendron simsii Planch.
- Ref: Fl. Serres Jard. Eur. 9:78. 1853
- Synonyms:
- Azalea simsii (Planch.) H.F.Copel.
- A. vittata-punctata (Van Houtte) Lem.
- Rhododendron annamense Rehder
- R. bellum W.P.Fang & G.Z.Li
- R. breynii Planch.
- R. calleryi Planch.
- R. hannoense Nakai
- R. petilum P.C.Tam
- R. simsii var. albiflorum R.L.Liu
- R. simsii var. strigosistylum G.Z.Li
- R. tamurae (Makino) Masam.
- R. viburnifolium W.P.Fang
- R. vittatum (Fortune) Planch.
- English Common Name: Sims’s rhododendron, Sims’s azalea
- Chinese Common Name: 杜鹃 dùjuān, 杜鹃花 dùjuān∙huā, 红杜鹃 hóng∙dùjuān, 山踯躅 shān∙zhízhú, 映山红 yìngshānhóng
- Japanese Common Name: シナヤマツツジ [シナ山躑躅] shinayamatsutsuji, トウヤマツツジ [唐山躑躅] tōyamatsutsuji
- Family: Ericaceae
- Genus: Rhododendron
- Distribution: Pinus massoniana forests, forest margins, open upland thickets; 500–2700 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand].
- Photo: Baizhang Ridge, Zhejiang
Shrubs, 2(–5) m tall; branches many and fine, densely shiny brown appressed-setose, setae flat. Summer and winter leaves different. Petiole 2–6 mm. Leaf blade ovate, elliptic-ovate or obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5–5 × 0.5–3 cm; base cuneate or broadly cuneate; margin slightly revolute, finely toothed; apex shortly acuminate. Inflorescence 2–3(–6)-flowered. Pedicel ca. 0.8 cm, densely shiny brown appressed-setose; calyx deeply lobed; lobes triangular-long-ovate, ca. 5 mm, coarsely appressed-hairy, margin ciliate; corolla broadly funnelform, rose, bright to dark red, or white to rose-pink, with dark red flecks on upper lobes, 3.5–4 × 1.5–2 cm, lobes obovate, 2.5–3 cm; stamens 10, ca. as long as corolla, filaments pubescent below; ovary ovoid, 10-locular, densely shiny brown-strigose; style exserted, glabrous. Capsule ovoid, up to 10 mm, densely strigose, calyx persistent. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Aug. (Flora of China)
