Japanese name: ツリガネツツジ（釣鐘躑躅） Scientific name:Rhododendron benhallii
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub about 1–2 m tall, growing at forest edges and similar places in the mountains.
Young branches are hairless.
The leaves are simple and alternate, but are often clustered in groups of 4–6 at the branch tips.
The leaves are 2–5 cm long and 1–2.5 cm wide, elliptic to oblong, slightly whitish on the underside, with long hairs on the leaf margin and on the veins of the underside.
The leaf stalk is 1–3 mm long and hairless.
A short raceme emerges at the branch tip, bearing 1–10 flowers in a bundle-like cluster.
The flowers are yellowish green tinged with reddish purple at the tip, tubular, with a flower stalk of 10–20 mm, and bloom facing downward.
There are 10 stamens.
The ovary is densely covered with glandular hairs.
The flower stalk has glandular hairs, and their length differs by region.
The edge of the calyx is irregularly uneven and bears thick glandular hairs.
It is not distinctly 5-lobed like the related Urajiro-yoraku.
The fruit is a spherical capsule 4–5 mm long that splits into 5.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
The rate of rooting is poor, but propagation by cuttings is also possible.
Grow it in a well-drained, moisture-retentive spot in sun to partial shade out of the afternoon sun.
It prefers acidic soil.
