Rhododendron lanatum Hook. fil.

Rhododendron luciferum may be a distinct species, differing in the shape of the leaves and their loose, very thick, rufous indumentum. Moreover, the taxon has a more easterly distribution. The largely Bhutanese R. flinckii may also be a distinct species, differing in the red, more velutinous leaf indumentum.

Shrubs or small trees, 1–3 m tall; young shoots and petioles densely whitish to tawny woolly-tomentose. Petiole 10–15 mm; leaf blade leathery, elliptic to obovate or oblong-obovate, 6–11 × 2.5–4.5 cm; base obtuse or broadly cuneate; margin revolute; apex obtuse or subrounded, apiculate; abaxial surface white, densely pale chocolate brown to rufous woolly, hairs ± crispate dendroid; adaxial surface glabrous except for groove of midrib, midrib and lateral veins prominent abaxially. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 5- or 10-flowered; rachis 3–10 mm, woolly-tomentose. Pedicel 1.5–2 cm, densely whitish to tawny woolly-tomentose; calyx 1–2 mm, tomentose or glabrescent; corolla broadly campanulate, sulfur-yellow, with red spots, 3.5–4.5 cm; lobes 5, rounded, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 1.5–2.6 cm, filaments pubescent at base; ovary 5-lobed, ca. 6 mm, densely tawny-tomentose; style ca. 2.6 cm, glabrous; stigma lobulate. Capsule elongate-cylindric, slightly curved, 15–25 × 4–8 mm, ± tomentose. Fl. May, fr. Aug.

SE Xizang [Bhutan, Sikkim].

Coniferous forests, Rhododendron thickets, mountain slopes; 3100–4400 m.

Rhododendron lanatum (syn. Rhododendron flinckii), the woolly rhododendron, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to the eastern Himalayas and southeastern Tibet. Occasionally found in commerce, it is a rabbit-tolerant evergreen shrub reaching 3–10 ft (1–3 m). Hardy in USDA zones 7 through 9, it is recommended as a hedge in partly shady situations.

Its young shoots and leaves are covered with a white to tawny velvety wool, giving it its scientific and common names. May flowers are typically sulphur-yellow with maroon-spotted throats, and there is a cream-flowered morph.