Rhododendron rawatii - Pink-Bell Rhododendron

Pink-Bell Rhododendron is a newly described (2012) species with pink broad-bell-shaped flowers. It was named in the honor of Prof. Gopal Singh Rawat, one of the leading phyto-taxonomists and ecologists of India. It resembles R. fulgens in habit (a small tree to shrub), peeling bark, hairless young shoots and shining leaves at maturity. It differs in many characters as follows: light green lower surface of leaf with fascicled cottony hairs in between lateral veins in R. rawatii, whereas in R. fulgens the hairs wholly hide the venation. Flowers are dark pink having a spherical sepal-cup with hairy margins in R. rawatii, whereas in R. fulgens petals are bright blood-red, highly polished and shining, the sepal-cup is minute. Flowers are borne at branch-ends, axis 1.3-2 mm long, flowers 13-16, loosely arranged; flower-stalk hairless, 6-13 mm long. Sepals are 5, 2.1-5.6 x 2.7-4.6 mm, membranous, spherical, pink. Petals are 5, tube open-bell-shaped, 3.7-4.9 x 4.7-5.9 cm (tube length x width at throat), bright pink, not shiny, hairless, notched, margins entire, with dark pink to brown spots in the flower tube, well-marked nectar pouches at base of each petal. Stamens are 10, unequal, 1-1.9 to 2-3.2 cm long (smallest and longest), style hairless, 2.4-2.8 cm long, slightly shorter than the flower tube, persistent; stigma head-like, green, 5-lobed. Pink-Bell Rhododendron is found in Western Himalaya, at altitudes of about 3000-3300 m. Flowering: March-May.