Emu Valley Newsletter – November 2024

• Date: 25th November 2024
• author: Maurie Kupsch

RHODODENDRON CYANOCARPUM

R. cyanocarpum is yet another species from the rhododendron rich province of Yunnan in China.The name means “with blue fruits”. It forms a very neat upright shrub in our garden, with lovely shaped leaves showing that it is related to R. thomsonii. In fact it was once known as R. thomsonii var. cyanocarpum.

The branches are very stiff and the leaves have a bluish green tinge, which are quite a feature. The flowers are a delicate pale pink with a distinctive bright pink stigma - very attractive. In the wild the flowers could vary from white, creamy white, pink to rose pink, flushed rose to purplish rose. The calyx is cup-shaped, smooth and greenish. The capsule has a bluish-glaucous bloom and the leaves have a yellowish green mid rib on both surfaces.

Introduced by Forrest in 1910 and few times more in 1922, it was first discovered by that well-known plant hunter Abbe Delavay, growing on Tsang Chan, Western Yunnan. To find it growing at Emu Valley, look on the left side of the road to the Chinese pavilion, just before the large camellia relative Schima argentea (look it up on google or our March ’20 newsletter)

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