Rhododendron lochiae
Rhododendron lochiae is a species of plant in the family Ericaceae, and is one of only two species of the genus that are native to Australia. It is restricted to cloud forest habitats on a small number of mountain peaks within the Wet Tropics World Heritage site. The other Australian species, Rhododendron viriosum, was described in 2002 and is also restricted to high altitude cloud forest, but on different peaks to R. lochiae.
Description
Rhododendron lochiae is a small shrub with glossy, elliptic leaves. In spring and summer it produces terminal clusters of waxy, red bell-shaped flowers. Each flower is about long and wide, and occurs in groups of up to six per cluster.Taxonomy
The species was first described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1887 who gave it the specific epithet lochae in honour of Lady Loch, a patron of horticulture in Australia and wife of the Governor of Victoria. The spelling was later amended to lochiae. The type specimen was collected by William A. Sayer and A. Davidson who came across the species while ascending Mount Bellenden Ker.It is classified within subgenus Rhododendron, section Vireya, subsection Euvireya.
Forms with a straight corolla tube that were previously included within the species were reclassified by Craven in 2002 as R. viriosum. Presently this segregate species is not recognised and its name has been resumed as a synonym of this R. lochiae. Furthermore, those specimens with a curved corolla tube, at one stage known as R. notiale Craven, remain within the present definition of R. lochiae. Therefore, all Australian plants occurring in the wild are, presently, officially known as R. lochiae.