Rhododendron leptopeplum I. B. Balf. & Forrest

Shrubs or small trees, 6–9 m tall; branches stout; young shoots glandular and pubescent at first, later smooth and glabrous. Petiole cylindric, 10–20 mm, glandular and floccose; leaf blade leathery, oblanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 6–12.5 × 2–3.5 cm; base rounded or broadly cuneate; apex acute to obtuse; abaxial surface pale, persistently thinly loosely whitish-tomentose; adaxial surface green, smooth, glabrous or with vestiges of juvenile hairs on the midrib; midrib prominent abaxially, grooved adaxially; lateral veins 17–19-paired, obscure. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 10–12-flowered; rachis 10–15 mm, pubescent. Pedicel 1–1.5 cm, glandular-hairy; calyx lobes 5, 4–6 mm, rounded, membranous, glabrous except for glandular margin; corolla campanulate, milky white to rose, with crimson flecks at base, ca. 4–4.5 cm, lobes 5, orbicular, ca. 1.5 × 2 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 1.5–3 cm, filaments pubescent at base; ovary conoid, ca. 5 mm, densely glandular; style ca. 3 cm, glabrous; stigma slightly swollen. Capsule not known. Fl. Mar.

NW Yunnan.

Rhododendron thickets, slopes; 3000–4000 m.