Ovatum Rhododendron                 ro-do-DEN-dron o-VA-tum

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub, bushy, up to 8 ft or higher in the wild, only to 3 ft in 10 years.   Leaves simple, alternate, variable in shape, ovate (egg-shaped) to various elliptic shapes, 3-8 cm long and 1-4 cm wide, base rounded or wedge-shaped (cuneate), apex acute or obtuse, sometime emarginate (notched), always with a pronounced mucron (short sharp point), glabrous except a briefly downy mid-rib, margin may be distincly serrated with bristly-tipped teeth, dark green and glossy, tinged with purple when young; short petiole, 0.3-2 cm long.  Flowers solitary, from axillary buds near the ends of shoots, petals pale purple, pink, white, or white tinged with pink, wide funnel-shaped, almost flat, 2.5-3 cm wide, 5 rounded lobes, the upper three speckaled, 5 stamens, unequal length, filament hairy toward the base, style glabrous (with out hairs).
• 5°F, mid-late, quality rating 34/3/3 [flower / plant & foliage / performance; scale 1 (poor) - 5 (best)].
• Native to central and southern China and Taiwan.
• Federal Way, Washington: Rhododendron Species and Botanical Garden