Rhododendrons

Rhododendron aberconwayi

Irrorata Subsection

Epithet: after the first Lord Aberconway (1879-1953),former President of RHS

AM 1945 (Windsor) to a clone 'His Lordship', from McLaren T.41; flowers white with crimson dashes

H5

A stiff, sparse, upright shrub growing to about 2.5m in height

Flowers: Lax trusses of 5-12 open-campanulate flowers lacking nectar pouches. Flowers are 20-35mm long, white or pale rose with purple flecks

April – May

Not scented

Foliage: Elepidote. Leaves are coriaceous, lanceolate, oblong-elliptic or elliptic; 28-70mm long × 8-33mm wide; upper surface dark green, shiny, glabrous; margin strongly recurved; underside whitish, matt, glabrous

Distribution: N E Yunnan, China at 2200-2500m

Other Information: The clone ‘His Lordship’ is sometimes commercially available.  A distinctive species allied to R. annae and R. araiophyllum