Rhododendron alutaceum I. B. Balf. & W. W. Sm.

Shrubs, 1.5–4 m tall; young shoots and petioles densely woolly-tomentose and/or glandular; bud scales deciduous or ± persistent. Petiole 10–15 mm; leaf blade thickly leathery, oblong, broadly lanceolate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 5–14 × 1.5–3.5 cm; base obtuse or subrounded; margin revolute; apex acute or shortly acuminate; abaxial surface with indumentum 2-layered, upper layer thick, woolly or felted, pale brown, rufous, rust-red, sometimes ± detersile, hairs branched, lower layer gray-white and compacted; adaxial surface glabrous. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 10–15-flowered; rachis 10–18 mm. Pedicel 1.5–2 cm, sparsely floccose and short-glandular-hairy or eglandular; calyx lobes 5, ca. 1 mm, subrounded, sparsely ciliate outside, margin glandular-ciliate; corolla campanulate or funnel-campanulate, white to pink, with crimson spots and with purple red basal blotch, 3.5–4 cm, lobes 5; stamens 10, unequal, filaments densely white-puberulent; ovary ca. 6 mm, densely tomentose and glandular-hairy to glabrous or sparsely floccose-tomentose and eglandular; style glabrous. Capsule cylindric, 10–15 × ca. 4 mm. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Sep–Oct.

W Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.

Coniferous forests, thickets, mountains, rocky slopes; 3200–4300 m.

Rhododendron alutaceum is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae. It is native to Tibet and southwestern China (western Sichuan, southeastern Xizang, and northwestern Yunnan), where it grows at altitudes of 3,200–4,300 m (10,500–14,100 ft). This evergreen shrub that grows to 1.5–4 m (4.9–13.1 ft) in height, with thick, leathery leaves that are oblong and broadly lanceolate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 5–14 by 1.5–3.5 cm in size. The flowers are white to pink, with crimson spots and purplish-red basal blotch.