Rhododendron brachyanthum Franch.

Shrubs, evergreen, 0.3–1.5(–2) m tall; bark smooth, brown, flaking. Petiole 4–10 mm, scaly; leaf blade leathery, aromatic, oblong-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic to narrowly obovate, 2–6.5 × 1–2.6 cm; base obtuse or tapering; apex obtuse or acute, mucronate; abaxial surface glaucous, scales sparse, (1–) 2–10 × their own diameter apart, unequal, the smaller pale yellow, the larger brown, widely separated; adaxial surface green, shiny, usually sparsely scaly. Inflorescence 3–10-flowered. Pedicel slender, 1.5–4 cm, scaly; calyx lobes 3–8 mm, rounded, ovate or broadly elliptic, persisting to enclose mature capsule, scaly; corolla campanulate, pale or greenish yellow, 1–1.5(–2) cm, tube 6–11 mm; outer surface usually sparsely scaly; stamens 10, nearly as long as corolla, filaments pubescent in lower 1/2 or nearly to apex; ovary scaly; style stout, usually sharply deflexed, short. Capsule cylindric-ovate, 4–8 mm, scaly. Fl. Apr–Jul, fr. Jul–Sep.

SE Xizang, C and W Yunnan [NE Myanmar].

Open places in forests, thickets, scrub, rocky places; 3000–3700 (–4000) m.