Rhododendrons

Rhododendron myrtifolium
Rhododendron subsection
Epithet: with myrtle-like foliage
Introduced: to Britain 1846.
H3
Height: rarely over 0.6m
Flowers: 3-7 flowered, loose; narrowly tubular with spreading lobes, 13-20mm long, rosy to mauvy-pink.
May - July
Leaves: 9-23 x 5-8mm, elliptic to oblanceolate; upper surface dark green, shining, elepidote, lower surface dark, lepidote.
Distribution: Translyvanian and Carpathian mountains and the mountains of Bulgaria and Yugoslav Macedonia 1,500 - 2,400m.
Dwarfer and earlier flowering than R. ferrugineum, it is not as easy to please and it occasionally suffers bark split and fungal problems.