QBARS - v23n3 Front Cover

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While visiting England during the spring of 1966, your Editor took this picture of R. rhabdotum in the conservatory at Knightshayes, Somerset, England, the home of Sir John and Lady Heathcoat Amory. This unusual species, while hardy out of doors along the central California coast, would need glasshouse protection in less benign climates.

Like most species in the Megacalyx sub-series, R. rhabdotum has a straggly habit and the deep indentations, or "mark of the potter's thumb", at the base of the corolla. A native of S.E. Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, it is said to reach 12 feet, although the tallest I have seen in cultivation is about six feet. I have no record of hybrids from this distinctive species. Has anyone tried it as a parent?