Rhododendron eriogynum I. B. Balfour & W. W. Smith.
Shrubs or small trees, 3–7 m tall; branchlets stout; young shoots white to tawny stellate-tomentose, glabrescent. Petiole cylindric, grooved adaxially, 10–20 mm, stellate-tomentose, glabrescent; leaf blade thinly leathery, oblong-elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 8.5–20 × 3–6 cm; base cuneate or rounded; margin slightly recurved; apex obtuse or rounded, apiculate; both surfaces sparsely rufous stellate-hairy at first, glabrous by maturity; midrib slightly grooved adaxially; lateral veins 16–20-paired, obscure on both surfaces. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 1–12-flowered; rachis 10–15 mm, stellate-tomentose, quickly glabrescent; calyx cupular; lobes 5, 4–5 mm, unequal, broadly rounded, pubescent outside; corolla tubular-campanulate, fleshy, scarlet, with deeper colored spots, 3.5–4.5 cm, with 5 nectar pouches, gibbous at the base, lobes 5, ca. 1 × 1.5–2 cm, outer surface sparingly floccose-tomentose, emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 2–3 cm; filaments puberulent on lower half; ovary ovoid-conoidal, 5–6 × ca. 4 mm, densely stellate-tomentose; style 2.5–3 cm, stellate-hairy, glandular to the tip, stigma small. Capsule cylindric, ca. 20 × 8 mm, densely tomentose. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Oct–Nov.
Mixed forests; 2100–3600 m. W Yunnan [NE Myanmar, N Vietnam].