Rhododendron obtusum (Lindl.) Planch.

There are many varieties and garden hybrids of this widely cultivated plant, the first form of which originated in Shanghai. It seems likely that Rhododendron obtusum was derived from a hybrid of the Japanese R. kiusianum Makino.

Low shrubs, 1(–4) m tall; branchlets slender, often pseudoverticillate, densely coarsely ferruginous-strigose. Leaves all similar. Petiole ca. 2 mm, coarsely gray-white-strigose; leaf blade membranous, elliptic to elliptic-ovate or oblong-oblanceolate to obovate, 1–2.5 × 0.4–1.2 cm; base broadly cuneate; margin ciliate; apex obtusely pointed or rounded, sometimes mucronate; both surfaces sparsely coarsely strigose, more conspicuously so along midrib. Inflorescence usually 2- or 3-flowered. Pedicel 0.4–0.8 cm, densely coarsely ferruginous-strigose, hairs flat; calyx lobes ovate, to 4 mm, coarsely strigose; corolla funnel-campanulate, red to pink or reddish, one lobe with dark flecks, ca. 1.5 × 2.5 cm; lobes oblong, ca. 1 × 0.5 cm, apex obtuse; stamens 5, ca. as long as corolla, filaments, glabrous; ovary densely coarsely brown-strigose; style ca. 2.5 cm, longer than stamens, glabrous. Capsule conical to broadly elliptic-ovoid, ca. 6 mm, densely coarsely ferruginous-strigose.

Cultivated in E and SE China [of cultivated origin].