Rhododendrons

Rhododendron augustinii
Triflora subsection
AGM (1993) 2012 to the Electra Group
H3
Distribution: Hubei, Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet.
Flowers: 2-6/truss, widely funnel-shaped, 20 - 43mm long, pale or blue,
deep or pale lavender-blue to mauve or violet-mauve,
purplish-red, pink or white, blotched or spotted olive green, purple or ochre.
Calyx usually fringed with long hairs.
April/May.
Foliage: lanceolate to oblong and somewhat obovate, 33-120 x 11-45mm,
lower surface with unequal, distant, golden or brown scales, midrib usually hairy for a long partof its length.
Height: shrub 1 - 7m
Epithet: after Augustine Henry collector and professor of forestry, Dublin.
The most useful diagnostic feature of R.augustinii
and all its subspecies is the hairs on the leaf-underside midrib.