coriaceous, glabrous, often pilose beneath when young, petiole ⅛-½in. Racemes axillary, simple, rarely falsely panicled by the suppression of leaves towards the ends of the branches (C. B. Clarke), more or less pubescent. Pedicels ⅛-⅓in. long. Bracts 1/5in., lanceolate or linear, deciduous. Flowers white ; " sometimes pink or bluish," says Brandis. Calyx-lobes 5, triangular lanceolate, 1/10-⅛in., connate at the base. Corolla ⅓-1/6in. or 1/5-2/5in. long, elongate ovoid, pubescent without ; lobes 5, short, recurved. Stamens 10, hypogynous ; filaments subulate, ciliate, with two filiform appendages, called " horns," at the apex ; anthers open by terminal pores. Ovary 5-celled, ovules many in each cell. Capsule 1/5in. diam., globose, loculicidally 5-valved ; seeds many, minute, linear-oblong (Kanjilal).
Use : — The young leaves and buds are poisonous to goats, they are used to kill insects, and an infusion of them is applied in cutaneous diseases (Gamble).
706. Rhododendron arboreum, Sm. h.f.b.i. iii., 465.
Syn : — R. puniceum, Roxb. 373.
Vern. : — Ardáwal, mandál, chiu, áru, brás, broa, chacheon (Pb.) ; Chhán (Hazara) ; Ardáwal, mandál, chiu, bras (Himalayan names) ; Trikhgandera (Trans-Indus) ; Billi, pumaram (Nilghiris) ; Brus (Kumaun); Bhorans, gurâs, ghonás, taggu, lalgurás (Nepal) ; Etok (Lepcha).
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bbotan, and the Khasia Mountains.
An evergreen tree, 25ft. Bark lin. thick, reddish brown, peeling off in small flakes. Wood soft, reddish-white, or reddish-brown, close and even-grained, apt to warp and shrink. Leaves crowded at end of branches, 4-6in. long, lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, acute at both ends, coriaceous, glabrous above, rusty-tomentose or covered with small silvery scales beneath. Nerves and midrib prominent beneath, depressed above ; buds viscous. Flowers large, very showy, commonly deeply crimson, rarely pink or nearly white, in corymbose fascicles at the ends of the branches. Pedicels O-to ⅓ the length of the Corolla-tube.
