Scientific name: Rhododendron ponticum L.
Common name: Rhododendron

Description
Habit: A woody shrub, to 5 m high.
Stems: Densely branched, woody, spreading to erect.
Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, hairless and shining; oblong, entire, 10-25 cm long.
Flowers: Mauve-purple, in short terminal racemes; sepals 5 with 5 small rounded lobes; corolla widely bell shaped with the tube shorter than the lobes, 4-5 cm across; stamens 10; style 4-7 mm, ovary superior.
Fruits: A capsule.

Habitat: Woods, hedges, rocky mountainsides, bogs.
Distribution: Very rare on limestone, elsewhere widespread and locally abundant.

Native status: Not native
Of conservation interest: No

Family Ericaceae
Genus Rhododendron
Species Rhododendron ponticum

Scientific synonyms and common names

Rhododendron [English]

Reynolds, S. C. P. (2002) A catalogue of Alien Plants in Ireland. National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Ireland.

Stace, C. (1997) New Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, The Bath Press, UK.

Webb, D. A. and M. J. P. Scannell (1983) Flora of Connemara and the Burren. Royal Dublin Society and Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Webb, D. A., J. Parnell and D. Doogue (1996) An Irish Flora. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk.

You can continue searching for Rhododendron ponticum on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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