260. Rhododendron wardii W. W. Smith, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh. 8: 205. 1914.
黄杯杜鹃 huang bei du juan
Shrubs ca. 3 m tall; old branches grayish white, bark sometimes flaking; young shoots greenish, glabrous. Petiole slender, furrowed above, 20–30 mm, glabrous; leaf blade leathery, narrowly ovate to oblong-elliptic or broadly ovate-elliptic, 5–8 × 3–4.5 cm; base subcordate; apex obtuse, apiculate; abaxial surface greenish or grayish green; adaxial surface deep green, midrib raised abaxially, flat or slightly concave adaxially; lateral veins 9–13-paired, inconspicuous on both surfaces. Inflorescence racemose-umbellate, 5–8(–14)-flowered; rachis 5–15 mm, with short glandular hairs. Pedicel 2–4 cm, usually sparsely glandular; calyx membranous, lobes 5, 5–8(–12) × 3–5 mm, unequal, ovate or ovate-elliptic, margin densely glandular; corolla cup-shaped, bright yellow or pure white, 3–4 × 4–5 cm; lobes 5, suborbicular, ca. 1.5 cm, apex emarginate; stamens 10, unequal, 1–1.8 cm, filaments glabrous; anthers ovate, yellow, ca. 2 mm; ovary cone-shaped, ca. 5 mm, densely glandular; style 1.5–2 cm, usually glandular, stigma capitate. Capsule cylindric, slightly curved, 20–25 × ca. 7 mm, glandular-hairy, calyx usually persistent, leaflike at maturity. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Aug–Sep.
Abies forests, Picea forests, scrub, meadows, mountain slopes, open places; 3000–4600 m. SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.