Rhododendron macabeanum
Grandia subsection
H3, or H4 given wind shelter
FCC 1938 Trengwainton, AGM (1993) 2012
Height: 3 - 9m in cultivation
10 year height/spread: 2m/3m
Flowers: dense trusses of 15-25 8-lobed flowers in shades of yellow to pale or greenish yellow or even
yellowish white.
Leaves: 140-380 x 90-200mm, broadly ovate to broadly elliptic, retained 1-2 years; upper surface shiny, often with vestiges of indumentum, lower surface with a dense, bistrate indumentum, the lower layer compacted, the upper layer lanate-tomentose.
Introduced: 1882 by Watt from Naga Hills, Assam.
Distribution: N.E. India only.
Recognise by: tolerance to exposure; large leaves with thick, whitish (rarely fawn) indumentum and
shining (usually) upper surface. Flower colour.
Epithet: after McCabe, a former D.C., Naga Hills, N.E. India.
The best really "big leaf" rhodo for marginal climates down to USDA zone 7b?
Location: Nymans
Photo: Mike Robinson
Location: Trewithen, Cornwall
Photo: Egbert Talesma
Location: Hampshire
Photo: Russell Beeson
Location: Trewithen 2008
Photo: Stephen Lyus
Location: Cornwall Spring 2008 Flower Show
Photo: Stephen Lyus
Location: nr Sheffield, April 2011
Photo: Sam Copnell
Photo: John Archer
Photo: Glynne Jones
Photo: Glynne Jones
Photo: Glynne Jones
Location: Westonbirt
Photo: George Hargreaves