Rhododendron roxieanum
var. oreonastes
at Deer Dell, Surrey
Photo: John McQuire
Taliensia subsection
H4
AM 1973Windsor, AGM 1993
Height: shrub 0.6-1.5m.
10 year height/spread: 0.5m/0.5m.
Flowers: white, lobes tipped pinky-
purple; darker spots in the throat.
April/May.
Introduced: 1914 by Forrest from
NW Yunnan.
Distribution: W Yunnan, SW Sichuan,
3600 - 4500m.
Recognise by: stiff spiky extremely
narrow leaves with thick rufous
indumentum.
Epithet: after Roxie Hanna of China;
'mountain dwelling' (oreonastes).
Well worth growing for its foliage alone,
but it is not free flowering when young.