Rhododendrons

Rhododendron rex ssp. fictolacteum
Falconera subsection
Epithet: false R. lacteum.
AM 1923 (Reuthe) flowers white with crimson blotch, AM 1953 (Minterne) 'Cherry Tip', flowers white with pink margins and a deep crimson blotch or spots; AGM 2012
H4
Height: tree 1.8 - 12m.
Flowers: 12-25/truss, obliquely campanulate, 30-40mm long, white, white flushed rose, pink or creamy, often with a deep crimson blotch or spots, 7-8 lobes.
April-May.
Leaves: oblong-obovate or oblanceolate, 100-245 x 35-85mm, upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous, underside covered with thick, rough continuous, bistrate, of rust-coloured, dark brown or brown hairs.
Distribution: Mid W. to NW Yunnan, NE Burma, E and SE Tibet. 3000 - 4500m.
Introduced: 1910 by Forrest from Yunnan. Re-collected recently.
Recognise by: similar to rex, and there is a gradation from rex to fictolacteum characteristics in the wild. Fictolacteum has smaller leaves even though these can
be as long as 30cm; brown tomentose branches, and usually a dark brown
indumentum, usually darker than rex.
Not free flowering when young, but has magnificent foliage with white woolly
young growth.