Rhododendrons

Rhododendron vaccinioides
Vireya Subgenus:
Pseudovireya Section
Epithet: Named from the resemblance of the plants to species of Vaccinum.
Introduced into cultivation:by Lord Headfort of Kells, Co. Meath from seed collected by George Forrest's 1924 expedition and flowered in 1933.
Flowers:solitary, occasionally 2 or 3 together held horizontally or semi-erect, c8 x 6mm, white or flushed pink, tube c4 x 3 x 4mm.
Apr - May.
Foliage: obovate-spathulate or elliptic, glossy dark green above, dull and paler below, 7-30 x 3-13mm, 3-4 spirally arranged along the twigs.
Shrub to 1.0m, epiphytic in forest, sometimes pendulous from the trunks of trees and on exposed rocks and cliffs.
Distribution (1800-4200m): Nepal (E),Bhutan, Myanmar (N),Tibet (SE),

India: Sikkim, Assam Himalaya, Lachen and Darjeeling,

China: Yunnan.
The flowers are small and not at all showy but sometimes the plants produce as many as four in the inflorescence when cultivated well.