QBARS - v32n2 R. arboreum cinnamomeum

R. arboreum cinnamomeum
Arthur W. Headlam, Bentleigh, Australia

R. arboreum cinnamomeum is a handsome tree, pyramidal in shape, and its leaves carry a rusty brown indumentum below, which is attractively displayed as the foliage is stirred by the wind, whilst the white flowers with purple spots add to the picture. The tree in the National Rhododendron Garden at Olinda flowered in Spring 1977 despite the fact that it had only been moved to the new species area in late winter of the same year. As the species in the new area are being planted in their Series and Subseries, it has for company R. arboreum , niveum (with its attractive smoky blue flowers), and zeylanicum , whilst in the Subseries Argyrophyllum are R. ririei and R. formosanum , the latter having flowered in November 1977 for the first time.