Rhododendron temenium I. B. Balf. & Forrest

Rhododendron ×fulvastrum I. B. Balfour & Forrest (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 13: 45. 1920), described from Xizang, is a hybrid between R. temenium and perhaps R. sanguineum.

Upright dwarf shrubs, 0.6–1 m tall; older branches with swollen verrucae; shoots 3–4 mm in diam. below inflorescence; young shoots setulose and tomentose. Petiole ca. 4 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade leathery, oblong to oblong-elliptic, 3–6 × 1.3–2.3 cm; base widely cuneate or obtuse; margin revolute; apex obtuse, apiculate; abaxial surface glaucous-papillate, glabrous or with remains of whitish floccose indumentum, especially on midrib and main veins; adaxial surface deep green, glabrous; midrib grooved adaxially; lateral veins 9–11-paired, impressed adaxially. Inflorescence lax or dense, 4–6-flowered; rachis ca. 5 mm, puberulent. Pedicel 1–2 cm, setulose, tomentose; calyx cupular; lobes 5, 3–4(–10) mm, ovate, glabrous, margin ciliate; corolla tubular-campanulate, fleshy, white to yellow, pink or crimson to deep crimson, 3–4 cm, lobes 5, suborbicular, ca. 1.1 × 1.5 cm, emarginate; stamens 10, 1.5–2 cm, filaments glabrous; ovary ovoid, ca. 4.5 mm, densely tomentose and glandular-hairy; style ca. 2 cm, glabrous. Capsule cylindric, ca. 8 mm, with remnants of indumentum. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Aug–Oct.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.

Alpine thickets, meadows, rocky or stony slopes, cliffs; 3000–4500 m.