Common Name: HEATH FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, tree. Stem: bark often peeling distinctively. Leaf: simple or 0, generally cauline, alternate, opposite (whorled), evergreen or deciduous, often leathery, petioled or not; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, cyme, or flowers 1, terminal or axillary, generally bracted; pedicel often with 2 bractlets. Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial, bell-shaped, cylindric, or urn-shaped; sepals generally (0)4--5, generally free; petals generally (0)4--5, free or fused; stamens (2--5)8--10, free, filaments rarely appendaged, anthers dehiscing by pores or slits, awns 0 or 2(4), seemingly abaxial, reduced or elongate, generally curved; nectary generally present at ovary base, generally disk-like; ovary superior or inferior, chambers generally 1--5, placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1--many per chamber, style 1, stigma head- to funnel-like or lobed. Fruit: capsule, drupe, berry. Seed: generally many, winged or not. Genera In Family: +- 100 genera, 3000 species: generally worldwide except deserts; some cultivated, especially Arbutus, Arctostaphylos, Rhododendron, Vaccinium. Note: Monophyletic only if Empetraceae included, as treated here. Ledum included in Rhododendron. Non-green plants obtain nutrition from green plants through fungal intermediates. eFlora Treatment Author: Gary D. Wallace, except as noted Scientific Editor: Gary D. Wallace, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Habit: Shrub to tree, glabrous, hairy, and/or with glandular scale-like hairs. Stem: prostrate to erect, bark thin, sometimes peeling or shredding. Leaf: alternate, evergreen or deciduous, ovate to obovate to elliptic, margin entire, flat to rolled under. Inflorescence: raceme, 1--many-flowered, bracts green to red-brown. Flower: sepals, petals generally 5, corolla radial to bilateral, 1--5 cm, petals free to +- fused, spots or blotch present or 0; anther awns 0; ovary superior. Fruit: capsule, septicidal, dehiscing base to tip or tip to base, placentas axile. Seed: many, fusiform, +- flat to not, wings and/or tails present or 0. Etymology: (Greek: rose tree) eFlora Treatment Author: Kathleen A. Kron & Walter S. Judd Unabridged Reference: Chamberlain 1982. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 39:209--486; Cullen 1980 Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 39:1--207
Rhododendron macrophyllum D. Don ex G. Don
NATIVE Stem: < 4 m, coarse-branched, twigs stout. Leaf: (6)7--12(17) cm, 3--5(7) cm wide, leathery, evergreen, glabrous, midvein impressed, margin flat. Inflorescence: 1.5--3 cm, 10--20-flowered, bracts deciduous; pedicel +- elongate in fruit. Flower: corolla widely funnel-shaped, white to pink or purple, adaxially brown-yellow-flecked; stamens 10, unequal. Fruit: longer than wide, dehiscing tip to base. Ecology: Conifer forest margins; Elevation: < 1515 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, KR, NCoRO, CCo, SnFrB; Distribution Outside California: to British Columbia. Flowering Time: Apr--Jul Jepson eFlora Author: Kathleen A. Kron & Walter S. Judd Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Rhododendron columbianum Next taxon: Rhododendron occidentale
Jepson Video for Rhododendron macrophyllumClick to watch the video.
Botanical illustration including Rhododendron macrophyllum
Citation for this treatment: Kathleen A. Kron & Walter S. Judd 2012, Rhododendron macrophyllum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=41146, accessed on January 23, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 23, 2025.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
