Rhododendrons

Rhododendron nuttallii
Maddenia subsection
H1(-2)
Height: to 10m, a large, sometimes epiphytic shrub or small tree, often leggy in cultivation.
Flowers: 2-7(-12) flowered, funnel-campanulate, margins sometimes wavy or reflexed, very large, up to 125mm long and across, white to timged pink with yellow blotch, slightly to strongly fragrant.
April - May.
Leaves: large, 130-260 x 55 - 120mm, elliptic, rounded at both ends; upper surface heavily bullate, lower surface densely covered with unequal scales and with a conspicuous network of veins.
Introduced: 1852.
Distribution: Bhutan, Arunchal Pradesh, NW Yunnan, SE Tibet. 1,100 - 3,700m.
This species is easily recognised by its huge wrinkled oblong/oval leaves, which are the biggest of any lepidote species (excluding Sectin Vireya) and by its massive flowers.