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2. Rhododendron zeylanicum Booth in Gard. Chron. 150. 1850. (Fig. 188).
ERICACEAE
Rhododendron arboreum Sm.— Rhododendron puniceum Roxb.—Rhododendron cinnamomeum
Wall.—Rhododendron album Sweet—Rhododendron campbelliae Hook. f.—Rhododendron
Windsorii Nutt.
Sinh. Asoka, Ma-rat mal; Tarn. Alingi, Billi.
A small tree with a stout, twisted trunk, deeply furrowed, grey bark and stout twigs,
marked with leaf scars of fallen leaves; leaves simple, alternate without stipules, 7.5—12.5 cm
long, crowded at ends of branches but below flowers, oblong-oval or oblong—lanceolate, tapering
to or slightly rounded at base, acute at apex, margin often recurved, glabrous above, more or
less densely covered beneath, with a thin hard felt of white ferruginous hairs, thick and very
stiff, veins impressed above, prominent beneath; petioles 1.2—1.8 cm long, thick, glabrous;
flowers regular, bisexual, very large, dark crimson on short, pubescent pedicels closely placed in a
short, terminal, capitulate raceme, each with a very large, rotundate, apiculate, deciduous bract
more or less silky hairy oh the back; sepals 5, free, nearly glabrous, persistent, segments obscure,
rounded; petals 5, fused into an infundibular—campanulate corolla, 3.1—5 cm diameter, lobes
broad, rounded, undulate; stamens 10, hypogynous, distinct, filaments glabrous, anther cells
opening by terminal pores; ovary superior, 10-locular with many ovules in each chamber, style
simple, stigma capitate, lobed; fruit a woody capsule,dehiscing septifragally from above into
5 valves, leaving the placental column often tipped w ith persistent style, valves ultimately reflexed;
seeds numerous, minute, winged at both ends.
Flowers from April to July,
Illustrations. Beddome, Fl. Sylvat.p/. 228. 1868—73; Herb. Peradeniya, drawing; Curtis,
Bot Mag. pi. 5311. 1862; Edward, Bot. Reg. pi. 890. 1825.
Distribution. Occurs in temperate Himalayas, Nilgiris, Pulneys, Travancore in India,
Ceylon and Burma. In Ceylon, it is common in the patanas at Nuwara-Eliya, Rangala, etc.,
generally growing gregariously.
India. Tibet: Younghusband 10. Sikkim: J. D. Hooker; T. Thomson, 1857. Bhutan:
Simons. Khasia: Simons Ceylon. Thwaites CP. 149; Rangala, Herb. Peradeniya; Maskdiya,
Herb. Peradeniya, May 1891; Namunukula, /. M. Silva, March 1907.
Uses. The young leaves are poisonous but generally applied on the forehead to cure
headaches.
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