Rhododendron bureavii

Rhododendron bureavii, the Bureau rhododendron^[2] (Chinese: 锈红杜鹃; pinyin: xiùhóng dùjuān),^[3] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to western Sichuan and northern Yunnan, China, where it lives at altitudes of 2,800–4,500 m (9,200–14,800 ft).^[3]

Rhododendron bureavii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Rhododendron
Species:	R. bureavii
Binomial name
Rhododendron bureavii Franch.[1]
Synonyms
Rhododendron bureavioides Balf. f. Rhododendron cruentum H. Lév.

Growing to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) tall and broad, it is an evergreen shrub. The leathery leaves are elliptic to obovate-oblong, 6–14 by 2.5–5 cm in size. New leaf growth is covered in a fuzzy brown indumentum that remains on the underside of the mature leaves. In mid-spring, the Bureau rhododendron produces trusses of bell-shaped flowers. The flowers are pink in bud, fading to white when open, with purple spots on the interior.^[4]

In cultivation in the UK, Rhododendron bureavii has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[2][5] Like most rhododendrons it prefers an acid soil and dappled sunshine. It is hardy down to −20 °C (−4 °F).

• 
  The indumentum on the underside of the leaves
• 
  In cultivation