Kingdom Plantae Family Ericaceae Rank Species | Order Ericales Genus Rhododendron | |
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Similar Rhododendron latoucheae, Rhododendron fortunei, Rhododendron hongkongense, Rhododendron mucronatum, Rhododendron argyrophyllum | ||
Rhododendron simiarum also known as the South China Rhododendron, is one of the many species of the genus Rhododendron, which mainly grows in Southern China. The species has also developed a habitat in Hong Kong, being one of the six native species of Rhododendrons to grow in Hong Kong, commonly found in the slopes of Ma On Shan, and Lantau Island. It is also distributed in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang.
Description
They grow as bushy shrubs to small trees; they typically grow to be 1 to 2 meeters, but can be as tall as 3 meters. Rhododendron simiarum's bark is gray in color, exfoliating into thin, small, irregular flakes. Young shoots are densely covered with curled grey hairs, also known as Tomentose but later become hairless. Branchlets, with those more than one year old glabrescent, gray tomentose when young. Flowers bloom from April to early May, having up to 4 to 6 clustered flowers at the top of branches, each funnel-shaped, pink with red spots at first and turn lighter when fully opened, ranging from white to dark pink.