Rhododendron araiophyllum I. B. Balf. & W. W. Sm.

Shrubs, 2–7 m tall, older branches glabrous; branchlets slender; young shoots glabrescent. Petiole cylindric, ca. 10 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade subleathery, elliptic-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, broadest above middle of blade, 5–11 × 1.3–3 cm; base cuneate; margin undulate; apex acuminate or cuspidate; abaxial surface glabrous except sometimes for densely woolly midrib; adaxial surface glabrous, midrib conspicuously raised abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral nerves 15–16-paired, obscure. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 5–10-flowered; rachis slender, 10–15 mm, woolly. Pedicel 1–1.5 cm, sparsely woolly; calyx lobes 5, 1–2 mm, rounded, glabrous to sparsely ciliate; corolla open-campanulate, fleshy, milky white to rose, with basal blotch, sometimes with purple flecks, 2.5–3.5 cm; lobes 5(or 6), suborbicular, ca. 1.3 × 1.5 cm, emarginate; stamens 10–12, 1.4–2.8 cm, filaments slender, pubescent at base; ovary conoid-cylindric, 5–6 × ca. 2.5 mm, 5- or 6-locular, pubescent at base; style glabrous, stigma slightly swollen. Capsule oblong-cylindric, 10–15 × ca. 4 mm, glabrous. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Oct–Nov.

NE and W Yunnan [NE Myanmar].

Pinus forest margins, thickets; 1900–3400 m.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhododendron araiophyllum.

Rhododendron araiophyllum (窄叶杜鹃) is a flowering plant in the Ericaceae family. It is native to northeast Myanmar and northeastern and western Yunnan, China, where it grows at altitudes of 1900–3400 meters. It is a shrub that grows to 1–4 m in height, with leathery leaves that are elliptic-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, 5–11 by 1.3–3 cm in size. Flowers are predominantly white.