Academic Centre
Rh. aureum Georgi
Small, prostrate or semi-prostrate or compact spreading shrub, 10-60 cm high; annual growth short; leaf-bud scales persistent.
Leaves obovate, oblanceolate, oblong-elliptic or ovate; lamina 2,3-9,5 cm long, 0,8-4 cm broad; upper surface dark green or plive-green; underside glabrous, under magnification punctulate with minute hairs.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 3-8 flowers, flower-bud scales persistent.
Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 2-3 cm long, yellow, with or without purplish spots.
Extends from the Altai mountains in W Siberia to the mountains of Mongolia, Manchuria, Kamtschatka, Sahalin Island, Kurile Islands, Korea and Japan. 1,500-2,700 m.
Epithet: Golden.
Rh. brachycarpum D.Don ex G.Don
Rounded, occasionally, lax shrub, 1,2-3 m high; branchlets often tomentose with a thin fawn tomentum.
Leaves oblong-elliptic, oblong or oblong-obovate; lamina 7-15 cm long, 2,6-7 cm broad; upper surface bright green, glabrous; underside covered with a thin, brown or fawn, continuous unistrate indumentum of radiate hairs.
Petiole glabrous.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 8-21 flowers.
Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 2,5-3 cm long, white flushed pink or creamy-white flushed pink along the middle of the petals, with green spots.
North and Central Japan, Korea. 1,700-2,300 m.
Epithet: With short fruit.
Rh. brachycarpum ssp. fauriei D.F.Chamb.
Rounded compact shrub 1-3 m high; branchlets with a thin, whitish tomentum, eglandular.
Leaves oblong-obovate or oblong-elliptic; lamina 6,6-10,3 cm long, 3-5 cm broad; upper surface bright green, glabrous; underside pale green, glabrous.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 12-20 flowers.
Pedicel rather densly hairy.
Calyx minute, 1 mm long.
Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 2,1-2,5 cm long, white or yellowish, flushed pink along the middle of the petals, with green spots, outside glabrous, eglandular.
N Japan, Korea. About 2,500 m.
Epithet: After Pere L.F. Faurie, French Foreign Missions, China.
Rh. brachycarpum Tigerstedtii Group
sin. Rh. brachycarpum v. tigerstedtii (Nitzelius) Davidian
This variety differs from the species type in that the leaves are longer, 15-25 cm in length, and the flowers are broader, 7 cm in breadth.
Korea. 200-900 m.
Epithet: After Dr. Tigerstedt, the former owner of Mustila Arboretum in south Finland.
Rh. bureavii Franch.
Shrub or tree 1,2-7,6 m high; branchlets densely wooly with cinnamon-coloured or rusty-red wool, glandular.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, oblong-elliptic or elliptic; lamina 5,5-14 cm long, 2,5-6 cm broad; upper surface dark green, slightly rugulose; underside covered with a thick, woolly, cinnamon-coloured or rusty-red, continuous, bistrate indumentum of hairs.
Petiole densely woolly with cinnamon-coloured or rusty-red wool, glandular.
Inflorescence in trusses of 6-15 flowers.
Pedicel densely woolly, glandular.
Calyx glandular.
Corolla campanulate, 4-5 cm long, white, white suffused with rose, or rose, with crimson spots.
NW Yunnan, SW Sichuan. 3,200-4,300 m.
Epithet: After E. Bureau (1830-1918), a French professor.
Rh. catawbiense Michxaux
Shrub 1-3 m or rarely 6 m high; branchlets floccose, eglandular.
Leaves oblong-oval, oval, elliptic or oblong-elliptic; lamina 6,5-15 cm long, 2,6-3 cm broad; upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous; underside pale whitish-green, glabrous.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 8-20 flowers.
Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3,5-4,3 cm long, rose, lilac-purple, pink or white, with olive-green spots.
N Carolina, Virginia, USA. 1,200-2,000 m.
Epithet: After the Catawba river, N Carolina, USA.
Rh. caucasicum Pallas
Shrub 0,3-1 m high; branchlets with a thin tomentum; leaf-bud scales persistent.
Leaves oblong, oblong-obovate or obovate; lamina 4-14 cm long, 1,5-4,5 cm broad; upper surface dark green, glabrous; underside covered with a thin, fawn, brown or yellowish, continuous unistrate indumentum of hairs.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 3-14 flowers; flower-bud scales persistent.
Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 2,3-3,5 cm long, pale cream, white flushed lemon-yellow, white flushed pink, very pale lemon flushed pink, or pale lemon, with or without green spots.
NE Turkey, the Caucasus, and the adjacent parts of Russia. 1,800-3,000 m.
Epithet: From the Caucasus.
Rh. decorum Franch.
Shrub or tree 1-9 m high; branchlets glabrous, eglandular.
Leaves oblong, oblong-obovate, obovate or oblong-oval; lamina 5-16,5 cm long, 2-7 cm broad; upper surface olive-green or bright green, wax-coated, becoming glossy when rubbed or heated; underside pale glaucous green, glabrous.
Petiole often glaucous, glabrous, eglandular.
Inflorescence in trusses of 8-12 flowers.
Pedicel moderately or rather densely glandular.
Calyx densely moderately or densely glandular.
Corolla widely funnel-campanulate, 3,5-6 cm long, fragrant, white, white suffused with rose, pink or rose, lobes 6-8.
Stamens 12-16.
Style glandular throughout to the tip with white or yellowish glands.
W and SW Sichuan, SE Tibet, NW and S Yunnan, NE Upper Burma, N Vietnam, 1,800-4,500 m.
Epithet: Ornamental.
Rh. degronianum Carriere
Shrub 1-2 m high; branchlets with a thin, whitish tomentum.
Leaves oblong, obovate or oblong-lanceolate; lamina 8-18 cm long, 2,2-4,6 cm broad; upper surface dark green or olive-green, shiny, glabrous; underside covered with a thick or somewhat thin, felty, fawn or brown, continuous, bistrate indumentum of hairs, eglandular.
Inflorescence candelabroid umbel of 6-15 flowers.
Corolla campanulate, 2,8-4,3 cm long, pink, rose, deep rose, reddish or rarely white, with or without deep pink lines along the middle of the petals; lobes 5.
Stamens 10.
Ovary 5-celled.
Central and Southern Japan. Up to 1,800 m.
Epithet: After M. Degron, Director of the French Posts in Yokohama in 1869.
Rh. degronianum ssp. heptamerum var. heptamerum D.F.Chamb. et F.Doleshy
Epithet: 7-lobed.
Rh. degronianum ssp. heptamerum var. hondoense (Nakai) Sealy
Rh. degronianum ssp. yakushimanum Hara
sin. Rh. yakushimanum Nakai
Very compact or lax shrub, 0,3-2,5 m high; branchlets densely or moderately whitish woolly.
Leaves lanceolate, oblanceolate or oblong-obovate; lamina 5-10 cm long, 3-8 cm broad; upper surface dark green, markedly convex or flat, glabrous (in young leaves, densely whitish woolly), margin recurved or flat; underside covered with a thick, woolly, fawn, continuous, bistrate indumentum of hairs.
Petiole densely whitish woolly.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 8-12 flowers.
Corolla campanulate, 3,2-3,6 cm long, flower-buds rich pink, rose, finally corolla pure white or very pale pink.
Yakushima Island, Japan. 500-2,000 m.
Epithet: From Yakushima Island, Japan.
Rh. dichroanthum ssp. scyphocalyx Cowan
sin. Rh. scyphocalyx Balf.f. et Forrest
Shrub 1-1,5 m high; branchlets with a thin, white or fawn tomentum.
Leaves obovate or oblong-obovate; lamina 3,5-9,5 cm long, 2-4 cm broad, base decurrent on the petiole; upper surface dark or pale green, glabrous, underside covered with a thin, plastered, continuous, white or fawn, unistrate indumentum of hairs.
Petiole margins narrowly winged or ridged.
Inflorescence in trusses of 3-5 flowers.
Pedicel rather densely setulose-glandular.
Calyx 0,4-1 cm long, cup-shaped, divided to about the middle.
Corolla tubular-campanulate, 2,5-4,3 cm long, rose-orange, orange, deep crimson or orange suffused with crimson; 5 nectar pouches.
NE Upper Burma, mid-W Yunnan. 3,000-4,300 m.
Epithet: Cup-shaped calyx.
Rh. fortunei ssp. fortunei D.F.Chamb
sin. Rh. fortunei Lind.
Shrub or tree 1,8-9 m high; branchlets glabrous.
Leaves obovate, oblong-obovate, oblong-elliptic or oblong; lamina 7-17 cm long, 2,8-8 cm broad; upper surface olive-green or dark green, matt, glabrous; underside pale glaucous green, glabrous, under magnification with minute glands and hairs.
Petiole purple, glabrous, eglandular.
Inflorescence in trusses of 6-12 flowers.
Pedicel moderately or densely glandular.
Calyx 6-7-lobed, glandular.
Corolla widely funnel-campanulate, 4-6 cm long, fragrant, pale rose, lilac or pink; lobes 7.
Stamens 14.
Ovary densely glandular.
Style glandular throughout to the tip with white or yellowish glands.
Chekiang, Kiangsi, Anhwei, Hunan, E China. 600-1,200 m.
Epithet: After Robert Fortune (1812-1880).
Rh. insigne Hemsl. et E.H.Wilson
Shrub 1,6-6 m high; branchlets moderately or densely whitish tomentose, eglandular.
Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate; lamina rigid, 6,8-11 cm long, 1,6-5 cm broad, apex acuminate; upper surface dark green, somewhat shiny, glabrous; underside shiny with a thin, plastered, continuous, pale coppery, unistrate indumentum of hairs (in young leaves woolly, white).
Inflorescence in trusses of 6-16 flowers.
Pedicel slender, eglandular.
Corolla campanulate, 2,8-4 cm long, pale or deep pink, red, or white-flushed rose or red down the middle of the lobes, with or without crimson spots.
W Sichuan. 2,150-3,000 m.
Epithet: Remarkable.
Rh. makinoi Tagg
Shrub 1-2,4 m high; branchlets densely brown woolly, eglandular; leaf-bud scales persistent..
Leaves lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate; lamina 5-17 cm long, 0,8-2,5 cm broad; upper surface dark green or bright green, glabrous (in young leaves, whitish woolly); margin recurved; underside covered with a thick, woolly, brown, continuous bistrate indumentum.
Petiole densely brown woolly, eglandular.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 5-8 flowers.
Calyx 1-7 mm long, densely hairy, eglandular.
Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3-4 cm long, pink or rose, with or without crimson spots.
Central Honshu, Japan. 450-550 m.
Epithet: After T. Makino, a Japanese botanist.
Rh. maximum L.
Shrub 1,2-3,7 m or sometimes a tree up to 12 m high; branchlets floccose, moderately or rather densely glandular.
Leaves lanceolate or oblong-obovate; lamina 9-20 cm long, 2,5-7 cm broad; upper surface dark green, glabrous; underside with a thin film of hairs, or covered with a thin, continuous unistrate indumentum of hairs, or glabrous.
Petiole often glandular.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel of 12-30 flowers.
Pedicel rather densely glandular.
Calyx glandular.
Corolla campanulate, 2,3-3,1 cm long, white, pink, rose or purplish, with yellowish-green spots;
Ovary densely glandular.
Style glandular throughout to the tip with white or yellowish glands.
Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia southward along the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia. From nearly sea level to about 900 m.
Epithet: Maximum.
Rh. orbiculare ssp. orbiculare Decne.
Compact rounded shrub or tree 1,5-3 m high or more; branchlets bright green, glaucous, glabrous, eglandular.
Leaves orbicular or ovate-orbicular; lamina 4-10 cm long, 4-8 cm broad, base deeply cordate, auricled, auricles usually overlapping; upper surface bright green, matt, glabrous; underside glaucous, papillate, glabrous, under magnification punctulate with minute glands.
Inflorescence in trusses of 7-16 flowers.
Pedicel often glandular.
Corolla widely campanulate with a broad base, 3,2-4 cm long, rose, rosy-red, deep red or reddish-purple, lobes 7.
Stamens 14.
W Sichuan. Border between Sichuan and Yunnan. 2,300-4,000 m.
Epithet: Circular, alluding to the leaves.
Rh. oreodoxa Franch.
Shrub or small tree 1,5-5 m high; branchlets often with a thin whitish tomentum.
Leaves oblong or oblong-oval; lamina 5-10,5 cm long, 1,8-4 cm broad; upper surface bright green or olive-green, matt, glabrous; underside pale glaucous papillate, glabrous.
Inflorescence in trusses of 5-12 flowers.
Pedicel densely or sparsely glandular.
Calyx minute, 1 mm long, glandular.
Corolla tubular-campanulate, 2,6-4,8 cm long, pale rose or pink or rarely carmine, with or without purple spots; lobes 7-8.
Stamens 14; glabrous or puberulous at the base.
Ovary glabrous, eglandular.
W Sichuan, Hubei, Gansu. 2,300-3,800 m.
Epithet: Glory of the mountains.
Rh. pachytrichum Franch.
Shrub 1-6 m high; branchlets rather densely with long shaggy, curly, branched, brownish hairs, eglandular.
Leaves oblanceolate, oblong, lanceiolate or oblong-lanceolate; lamina 6-13,6 cm long, 2-4 cm broad; upper surface bright green, glabrous; underside pale green, shiny glabrous, midrib rather densely or moderately hairy with long, shaggy, curly, branched browny hairs.
Petiole rather densely hairy with long curly hairs, eglandular.
Inflorescence in trusses of 6-15 flowers.
Pedicel densely hairy.
Corolla campanulate, 2,8-4,2 cm long, white, pale rose, deep purple or red, with or without a deep purple blotch.
W Sichuan. 2,300-3,600 m.
Epithet: With thick hairs.
Rh. ponticum L.
Shrub 1-4,6 m or tree up to 7,6 m high; branchlets glabrous.
Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, oblanceolate or oblong; lamina 6,5-21 cm long, 2,1-6 cm broad; upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous; underside pale green, glabrous.
Petiole glabrous.
Inflorescence a candelabroid umbel; 6-19 flowers.
Calyx 1-2 mm long, glabrous.
Corolla widely funnel-shaped, 3-5 cm long, pinkish-purple, purple, pink, lilac-purple, lavender or mauve, with greenish-yellow spots.
Pontic ranges of North Anatolia, Turkey, Caucasus, Lebanon, SE Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain. Sea-level up to 1,200-1,800 m.
Epithet: From the Pontus, Asia Minor.
Rh. selense ssp. jucundum
sin. Rh. jucundum Balf.f. et W.W.Sm.
Shrub 60 cm-3 m high or tree up to 6,10 m high; branchlets not glandular, not setulose-glandular or sometimes setulose-glandular, often warty.
Leaves elliptic, oblong or oblong-elliptic; lamina 3,8-7,4 cm long, 2-4 cm broad; upper surface dark green, glabrous; underside markedly glaucous, glabrous or minutely hairy.
Petiole not glandular, not setulose-glandular.
Inflorescence 5-8 flowers.
Pedicel glandular.
Calyx 1-6 mm long, margin glandular.
Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3-4 cm long, pale rose, rose, pink or white suffused with rose, with or without crimson blotch.
Ovary densely glandular.
W Yunnan. 3,000-3,700 m.
Epithet: Pleasant.
Rh. smirnowii Trautvetter
Shrub or tree, 0,5-6 m high; branchlets rather densely woolly with whitish of fawn wool, glandular.
Leaves oblong-obovate or oblanceolate; lamina 6,5-16 cm long, 1,8-4,2 cm broad; upper surface olive-green or dark green, shiny, glabrous (in young leaves, densely whitish woolly); underside covered with a thick, woolly, fawn or brown, continuous bistrate indumentum of hairs.
Petiole densely whitish or fawn woolly, glandular.
Inflorescence a cendelabroid umbel of 6-12 flowers.
Pedicel floccose, glandular.
Corolla funnel-campanulate, 3,1-4,8 cm long, pink, deep pink, rose-red or rose-purple, with or without spots.
NE Turkey, Caucasus, Georgia, Russia. 800-2,800 m.
Epithet: After M. Smirnow, a friend of its discoverer, Baron Ungern-Sternberg.
Rh. sutchuenense Franch.
Shrub or tree 2-6 m high, branchlets with a thin, white tomentum, eglandular.
Leaves oblong-obovate, oblanceolate or oblong-oval; lamina 9-28 cm long, 3-7,5 cm broad; upper surface dark green or pale green, matt, glabrous; underside pale green, glabrous, midrib moderately or densely woolly or hairy in its entire length.
Petiole flat above, margins with very narrow wings or ridges.
Inflorescence in trusses of 8-20 flowers.
Pedicel stout, 1-3,6 cm long.
Calyx eglandular.
Corolla widely campanulate, 5-7,5 cm long, white suffused with pink, rose-pink or deep rose, with crimson spots, without a blotch at the base.
Stamens 13-17 or rarely 22.
W Hubei, E Sichuan. 1,400-2,500 m.
Epithet: From Sichuan.
Rh. traillianum var. traillianum
sin. Rh. traillianum Forrest et W.W.Sm., Rh. aberrans Tagg et Forrest
Shrub or tree, 1-9 m high; branchlets with a thin tomentum.
Leaves oblong, oblong-obovate or oblong-lanceolate; lamina 5,2-17 cm long, 2-6,8 cm broad; upper surface pale green or dark green, glabrous; underside covered with a thin, continuous, powdery or sometimes suede-like, brown, rust or sometimes cinnamon-coloured, or yellowish, unistrate indumentum of radiate hairs with somewhat pear-shaped arms (pyriform).
Petiole with a thin tomentum.
Inflorescence in trusses of 9-15 flowers.
Corolla funnel-campanulate, 2,6-4 cm long, white, white suffused with rose, pink or rose.
NW, W and mid-W Yunnan, SW Sichuan, SE Tibet. 3,000-4,600 m.
Epithet: After G.W. Traill (1836-1897), botanist and father-in-law of George Forrest.
Rh. ungernii Trautvetter
Shrub or tree 1-6 m high; branchlets with whitish tomentum, glandular.
Leaves oblong-obovate, oblanceolate or oblong-oblanceolate; lamina 9-25,5 cm long, 2,8-7,5 cm broad; upper surface dark green, glabrous; underside covered wth a thick, woolly, whitish or fawn, continuous, bistrate indumentum of hairs.
Inflorescence a candelabroid unmel of 12-30 flowers.
Pedicel moderately or rather densely glandular.
Calyx outside glandular.
Corolla campanulate, 3-4,5 cm long, pale rose, pink or white, with or without pale green spots, outside of tube pubescent, glandular.
Ovary densely glandular.
NE Turkey, Georgia, Russia. 850-2,000 m.
Epithet: After Baron F. von Ungern-Sternberg (1800-1868), Professor at Dorpat.
Rh. vernicosum Franch.
Shrub or tree 1-7,6 m high; branchlets glabrous.
Leaves oblong-elliptic, elliptic, oblong-oval or oval; lamina 4-13,5 cm long, 2-5,6 cm broad; upper surface olive-green or dark green, matt, wax-covered becoming glossy when rubbed or heated, glabrous; underside pale glaucous green, glabrous.
Inflorescence in trusses of 5-10 flowers.
Pedicel moderately or rather densely glandular.
Calyx densely glandular.
Corolla widely funnel-campanulate, 3,8-5,4 cm long, white, deep or pale rose, rose-lavender or purplish-red, with or without crimson spots; lobes 7.
Stamens 12-14.
Style glandular throughout to the tip with dark red or crimson glands.
W and SW Sichuan, NW and mid-W Yunnan, SE Tibet. 2,750-4,500 m.
Epithet: Varnished.
Rh. wardii var. puralbum (Balf. f. et W.W.Sm.) D.F. Chamb.
sin. Rh. puralbum Balf. f. et W.W. Sm.
Shrub 1,5-4,6 m high; branchlets sparsely glandular or eglandular.
Leaves ovate, ovate-oblong or oblong; lamina 5-12 cm long, 2,4-5 cm broad; upper surface dark green, glabrous; underside pale glaucous green, glabrous.
Inflorescence 5-8-flowered.
Pedicel glandular.
Corolla bowl- or saucer-shaped, 2-4 cm long, pure white or rarely ivory-white.
Ovary densely glandular; style glandular throughout to the tip.
NW Yunnan, SE Tibet. 3,400-4,300 m.
Epithet: Pure white.
Rh. wightii Hook.f.
sin. Rh. x wightii
Shrub or small tree 2-6 m; branchlets greenish-brown to brown; leaf and flower buds sticky.
Leaves 5-10 cm long, 5-7 cm broad, broadly elliptic to obovate; upper surface dark green and glabrous, underside with a compacted pale fawn to brown indumentum of radiate hairs.
Inflorescence 12-20 flowers.
Corolla campanulate, 3-4 cm long, white, cream or pale yellow.
Ovary with a dense red-brown tomentum.
Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, S Tibet. 3,400-4,500 m.
Epithet: After R. Wight (1796-1872), a former superintendent, Madras Botanic Gardens.
Rh. williamsianum Rehd. et Wils.
Compact, rounded od dome-shaped or spreading shrub, 0,6-1,5 m or rerely up to 2,4 m high or more; branchlets slender, setulose-glandular.
Leaves ovate or orbicular; lamina 1,5-4,2 cm long, 1,3-4 cm broad, base cordate or truncate; upper surface bright green (in young leaves, bronzy), glabrous; underside glaucous, papillate, glabrous or punctulate with vestiges of hairs.
Petiole often setulose-glandular.
Inflorescence in trusses of 2-3 (rarely up to 5) flowers.
Pedicel glandular.
Corolla campanulate, 3-4 cm long, rose or pink, with or without spots.
Style glandular throughout to the top.
W Sichuan. 2,800 m.
Epithet: After J.C. Williams (1861-1939) of Caerhays, Cornwall.