Rhododendron rivulare Hand.-Mazz.

Shrubs, evergreen, 1–3 m tall; young shoots densely shortly ferruginous glandular-hairy, also with coarse flat appressed hairs and long setae. Summer and winter leaves different. Petiole 5–10 mm, densely shortly ferruginous glandular-hairy; leaf blade papery, ovate-lanceolate or oblong-ovate, 5–9(–11.5) × 1–4 cm; base subrounded; margin entire, shortly setose; apex acuminate and mucronate; abaxial surface conspicuously hairy on midrib; adaxial surface sparsely villous, later with hair remnants only on midrib; lateral veins not reaching the margin. Inflorescence more than 10-flowered. Pedicel ca. 1.5 cm, densely shortly glandular-hairy and with coarse long flat appressed hairs; calyx lobes narrowly triangular, 2–5 mm, shortly pale yellow-brown glandular-hairy and coarsely long-strigose; corolla funnelform, purple-red, ca. 2.3 cm; tube narrowly cylindric, widening above, ca. 13 × 2 mm, outer surface glabrous, inner surface puberulent, lobes oblong-ovate; stamens 5, unequal, 2.5–2.8 cm, exserted, filaments puberulent below; ovary ovoid, densely red-brown-setose. Capsule oblong-ovoid, ca. 9 × 4 mm, densely long setose. Fl. Apr–Jun, fr. Jul–Nov.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan.

Dense valley forests; 700–1200 m.