Rhododendron multiflorum var. multiflorum ("Urajiroyoraku")

Japanese name: ウラジロヨウラク （裏白瓔珞）
Scientific name: Rhododendron multiflorum var. multiflorum

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub about 1–2 m tall, growing on poor mountain ridges, in wetlands and at forest edges.
Young branches are hairless or sparsely covered with glandular hairs.
The leaves are simple and alternate, but are often clustered in groups of 4–6 at the branch tips.
The leaves are elliptic to obovate, 2–6 cm long and 1.5–3.5 cm wide, and the underside is slightly whitish.
Except for sparse thick hairs on the midrib of the underside, the upper surface and leaf margin are hairless or have a few long hairs.
The petiole is 2–5 mm long with sparse thick hairs.
Short racemes at the branch tips bear 3–10 flowers in a clustered arrangement.
The flowers are crimson-purple, narrowly bell-shaped, borne on stalks 10–25 mm long, and hang downward.
There are 10 stamens.
The ovary is densely covered with glandular hairs.
The flower stalk has short glandular hairs.
The calyx is distinctly 5-lobed, with thick glandular hairs on the margin.
The fruit is a spherical to egg-shaped capsule 3–4 mm long that splits into 5 parts.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
Cuttings are also possible, although the rooting rate is poor.
Grow it in a site with good drainage and moisture retention, in sun to partial shade out of the afternoon sun.
It prefers acidic soil.

[Notes]
Those with long calyx lobes are sometimes distinguished as a variety called Gaku-urajiro-yoraku.

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