China – Rhododendron arboreum Sm.

Title: Illustrations of Indian botany: or figures illustrative of each of the natural orders of Indian plants, described in the author’s prodromus florae peninsulae Indiae orientalis.
Author: Robert Wight
Publication date and citation: 1850 Vol. 2, Plate 140

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China – Rhododendron arboreum Sm.

The nearly 1,000 species of Rhododendron, so highly valued by the world’s gardeners, have their greatest concentration of species in the Himalayas of China, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and India where they dominate mid- and high-elevation forests. Dr. Robbie Hart, recently awarded his Ph.D. through the Garden’s Graduate Student Program, recorded and analyzed data from more than 10,000 herbarium specimens of Rhododendrons to demonstrate changes in their flowering time related to climate change.

Robbie Hart studying flowers of Rhododendron decorum Franch. in China. (Photo courtesy R. Hart)

Flowering specimen of Rhododendron arboreum from Yunnan, China. (Photo: MBG Tropicos)

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