Rhododendron molle G.Don

Sparingly branched shrub, 0.3-1.2 m, with rather stout erect branches, villous when young and often setose. Leaves deciduous, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, apex obtuse and mucronulate, base cuneate, ciliate and often revolute at margin, soft-pubescent above at least when young, beneath with a greyish white dense matted pubescence, which becomes glaucous or sometimes confined to the veins in later stages, 6-15 by 1.8-5.5 cm; petiole pubescent, 2-6 mm. Floral buds ovoid, with 9-12 broad-ovate mucronate or acuminate perulae, densely grey-pubescent or velutinous, sometimes glabrescent. Inflorescence many-flowered, flowers expanding before the leaves. Pedicels puberulous, with only few or without bristles, 1.2-2.5 cm. Calyx lobes small, obtuse, pubescent, ciliate, with few bristles, 1-2 mm. Corolla wide-funnel-shaped, 4-5 cm long, 4.5-6 cm across, golden-yellow with a large blotch of greenish dots, tomentulose outside, lobes oval or ovate to broad-oblong, longer than the rather wide tube. Stamens 5, as long as the corolla; filaments hairy below the middle; anthers 2 mm. Disk hairy. Ovary densely white-hairy; style glabrous, exceeding the stamens. Capsule cylindric-oblong, 1.8-2.5 cm, finely pubescent and sparingly setose.

Thin pine forests, thickets on mountain slopes, exposed grassy hill-sides, ridges; at elevations from near sea level to 2,500 metres.

Can be grown by cuttings, graftings or seedlings.