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Rhododendron smokianum' R. mitriforme Til M R. minus f. smokianum

Rhododendron smokianum

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don. Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don. Hyatt

 R. smokianum. Photo: Don Hyatt
R. smokianum. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum purple, leaf. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum (fra Don Hyatt) bladunderside hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum purple, flower bud. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum blomsterknop (november) hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum purple, flower bud. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum blomsterknop i udspring (midt juni) hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum purple. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum blomsterstilk hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum purple, pedicle. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum blomsterstilk hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum purple, pedicle. Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum ovarie, støvdragere og griffel hos HE. Foto: Hans Eiberg

 R. smokianum Photo: Don. Hyatt
A picture of Karel Bernady and R. smokianum at a place we called the Jump Off (elevation 1900 m) which is in the Smoky Mountains. Foto: Don Hyatt

 R. smokianum Photo: Hans Eiberg
R. smokianum, ung stamme. Foto: Hans Eiberg

R. smokianum seeds. Foto Hans Eiberg

R. smokianum (minus var. minus forma smokianum) (nu en selvstændig art) a dwarf plant, rarely over 0.5 meters high. It has small purple flowers and as far as I know it does not have a varietal distinction. The foliage looks more like R. keiskei than R. carolinianum or R. minus. It grows basically on cliffs and very well drained slopes on just a few of the highest mountains in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, between 1500 to 1900 meters. It has a very small natural area of distribution. Its flowers are small, rarely over 2 cm across, and the color range is primarily in the purple range with some forms that are lavender and other deep rose pink. We have never seen any lighter colors or whites. It blooms much later than any of the others...at the same time as Kalmia and at the beginning of R. maximum's bloom time.
Don Hyatt

Ron Miller has given it that name since it seems to reside just at high elevations (1800 to 1900 m) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. As far as the taxonomists are concerned, they think it is just R. minus and they don't even give a varietal distinction. When we see the isolated range, how it grows (happiest on 90 degree rock faces so it obviously needs good drainage), the time of bloom in late June or July which is at least 6 weeks after R. minus var. carolinianum at the same altitude, and the color range from rose to purple instead of white to lavender pink, we disagree. Smokianum have been described in JARS 68(4) 2014.
Don Hyatt

R. minus / R. carolinianum
R. minus
R. minus var. chapmanii


ARS
Flora of North America
RBGE Herbarium; R. minus
Herbarium Florida
R. minus f. smokianum Til M R. mitriforme