Rhododendron micranthum is an evergreen rhododendron from northern China and Korea, and it doesn't grow wild in the US. Instead of a few big blooms, it packs 20 or more tiny white flowers into each cluster in late spring and summer, so it looks more like Labrador tea than a typical rhododendron. In the US you may find it in some botanical gardens under the name Manchurian rhododendron.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A bushy evergreen shrub with slender branches, usually 3–7 ft (1–2 m) tall and occasionally up to about 8 ft (2.5 m). Garden plants are often 4–6 ft (1.2–1.8 m).
- Leaves
- Narrow, oval to oblong leaves, typically about 0.8–1.4 in (2–3.5 cm) long on Korean plants, thickly covered with small brown scales underneath.
- Flowers
- Dense clusters of more than 20 small white, funnel-shaped flowers, each only about 0.2–0.4 in (5–10 mm) across. The 10 stick out past the petals.
- Flowering time
- May to July. In gardens around Chicago it blooms in May and June.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Rocky mountain slopes
- Range
- Native to China and the Korean Peninsula. In the mountains of China it grows at about 5,200–8,500 ft (1,600–2,600 m), while the Korean sites studied were much lower, about 330–1,600 ft (100–500 m). Not native to North America.
- Preferred conditions
- In gardens it does best in well-drained, fertile, acidic soil in partial shade, and it tolerates full shade.
Growing it
- Care
- Rated for USDA 6–7. Used as a specimen plant or in a screen or hedge.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- It was first collected in the mountains north of Beijing by the French missionary Pierre d'Incarville in the mid-1700s, but it didn't reach Western gardens until 1901, when plant hunter Ernest Wilson sent seed to Britain.
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