Rhododendron irroratum Franch.

Shrubs or small trees, 2–9 m tall; young shoots thinly tomentose and with glandular hairs that soon wither. Petiole cylindric, 10–20 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade leathery, oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 7–14 × 2–4 cm; base rounded or broadly cuneate; margin entire or undulate; apex acuminate; both surfaces glabrous when mature; midrib distinct and prominent abaxially, deeply grooved adaxially; lateral veins 17–20-paired, impressed. Inflorescence laxly racemose-umbellate, 7–15-flowered; rachis 20–40 mm, pubescent and rufous glandular-hairy. Pedicel stout, 1–2 cm, densely glandular-hairy, sometimes tomentose; calyx lobes 5, ca. 2 mm, rounded or broadly triangular, margin glandular; corolla tubular-campanulate, white or creamy yellow to violet-rose, with greenish or purple flecks, 3–4 cm, 5 nectar pouches at base; lobes 5, orbicular, 2–2.5 × ca. 3 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 2–3.5 cm, filaments pubescent at base; ovary conoid, 5–6 mm, 8–10-loculed, densely glandular-hairy; style sometimes glandular to the tip, stigma small. Capsule oblong-cylindric, 15–20 × 6–10 mm. Fl. Mar–May, fr. Sep–Oct.

W Guizhou, SW Sichuan, N and SE Yunnan [N Vietnam].

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed forests; 1700–3500 m.

Rhododendron irroratum (露珠杜鹃) is a rhododendron species native to northern Vietnam and western Guizhou, southwestern Sichuan, and northern and southeastern Yunnan, China, where it grows at altitudes of 1,700–3,500 m (5,600–11,500 ft). It is an erect evergreen shrub or small tree growing to 2–4 m (6.6–13.1 ft) in cultivation, but may be double that size in the wild. The leathery leaves are oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 7–14 by 2–4 cm in size. The flowers are variable in colour, and may be white or yellowish to violet-rose, but always spotted with greenish or purple flecks.

Heavily spotted pink form