Rhododendron keleticum I. B. Balf. & Forrest

Creeping small shrubs, 0.05–0.3 m tall; young shoots with dense stipitate or sessile scales, lacking strap-shaped setae. Petiole 1–3 mm, densely scaly, glabrous; leaf blade leathery, elliptic-lanceolate, elliptic, or ovate, 0.6–2 × 0.3–1 cm; apex obtuse or rounded, apiculate; abaxial surface brown, scales dense, overlapping, arranged in 3–4 tiers, denticulate; adaxial surface scales usually absent, rarely present. Inflorescence terminal, 1(or 2)-flowered. Pedicel 1.5–3.2 cm, scaly, scales sometimes stipitate, glabrous or rarely with strap-shaped setae; calyx pale purplish red or green tinged with red, 5-lobed to the base; lobes 5–7 mm, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, persistent in fruit, abaxially ± scaly, sometimes also pubescent; corolla broadly campanulate, fresh purple or pale purplish red, inside with dark purple spots, 1.5–2 cm, outer surface densely scaly or pubescent; stamens 10, slightly unequal, often half as long as corolla; filaments villous at base; ovary 5-locular, densely scaly; style red, longer than stamens, glabrous. Capsule ovoid, 4–7 mm. Fl. Jul–Sep, fr. Aug–Oct.

SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Myanmar].

Bamboo forests and meadows in high mountains, thickets, slopes, rock faces; 3000–3900 m.