Japanese name: コヨウラクツツジ（小瓔珞躑躅） Scientific name:Rhododendron pentandrum
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1–2 m tall, growing in mountain forests, at forest edges and on rocky ground.
Young branches are covered with coarse hairs.
The leaves are simple and alternate, but are often clustered 4–6 at a time at the branch tips.
They are oblong, 1.5–5 cm long and 1–2.5 cm wide, with coarse hairs on the upper surface and along the margin; the underside is hairless except on the veins.
The petiole is 2–4 mm long with sparse coarse hairs.
A short raceme at the branch tip bears 3–6 flowers in a somewhat bundled arrangement.
The flowers are yellowish green tinged with reddish brown at the tip, lopsided and urn-shaped, with pedicels 10–20 mm long, and they hang downward.
There are 5 stamens.
The ovary has short hairs and glandular hairs.
The pedicel has glandular hairs.
The calyx is 3–5-lobed, with glandular hairs on the margin.
The fruit is a globose to elliptic capsule 3–4 mm long that splits into 5 parts.
The fruit has glandular hairs.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
The rooting rate is poor, but cuttings are also possible.
Grow it in a sunny to partially shaded place with good drainage and water retention, out of the afternoon sun.
It prefers acidic soil.
