Prostrate to erect shrub, to 1m. Leaves 0.4-3(-2.5) x 0.2-0.7(-0.9)cm, oblong-elliptic to elliptic-ovate, apex obtuse or rounded, mucronate, lower surface covered with a mixture of touching, straw-colored to fawn and ferrugineous scales.

Flowers 3-6; calyx lobes 1-2mm, deltoid; corolla violet-rose to purple or sometimes white, broadly funnel-shaped, 7-15mm; stamens 5-10, about as long as the corolla; ovary scaly, style longer than the stamens, glabrous.

-10 to -20F

March-April

Circum-polar - USA (Alaska), Canada, Greenland, Scandanavia, Arctic Russia.

Source: The Rhododendron Handbook 1998; Published by the Royal Horticulture Society

R. lapponicum
Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden
Federal Way, WA
by Hank Helm