Rhododendron traillianum Forrest & W. W. Sm.

Shrubs or small trees, 2–8 m tall; shoots gray- to fawn-floccose when young, soon glabrescent. Petiole 10–20 mm, glabrescent; leaf blade leathery, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, sometimes oblanceolate, 5–12 × 2.5–5 cm; base rounded; apex acute and apiculate or acuminate; abaxial surface pale brown to fawn or red-brown, indumentum dense, 1-layered, hairs radiate, arms short and pyriform or long and ribbonlike; adaxial surface glabrous. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 8–15-flowered; rachis ca. 10 mm, floccose. Pedicel 1.5–2 cm, sparsely brown-floccose; calyx lobes 5, ca. 1 mm, broadly triangular, margin ± ciliate; corolla funnel-campanulate or campanulate, white to pink, with crimson spots and purple-red basal flecks, 2.5–5 cm, lobes 5, deeply emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, filaments pubescent at base; ovary 5–7 mm, glabrous or sparsely to densely red-brown-floccose; style ca. 2.2 cm, glabrous. Capsule cylindric, 15–25 × 4–8 mm. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Aug–Oct.

SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.

Abies forests, coniferous forest margins, Rhododendron thickets, mountains, rocky slopes; 3000–4300 m.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rhododendron traillianum.

Rhododendron traillianum (川滇杜鹃) is a rhododendron species native to southwest Sichuan, southeast Xizang, and northwest Yunnan, China, where it grows at altitudes of 3,000–4,300 m (9,800–14,100 ft). It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that grows to 2–8 m (6.6–26.2 ft) in height, with leaves that are oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, 5–12 by 2.5–5 cm in size. The flowers are white or pink, with crimson spots and purple-red basal flecks.