Rhododendron camtschaticum

The birthplace of the Rhododendron camtschaticum is the Arctic, the Far East (Khabarovsk Territory, Primorye, Kamchatka, the Commander Islands, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands), Japan, the northwestern part of North America, the Aleutian Islands. It grows in thickets of dwarf cedar, on loaches, in the tundra on cold, damp, shaded or open slopes. Protected in reserves.

 

Grows as a deciduous, dwarf shrub up to 35 cm tall, with dense, outstretched, three-forked branches of brown-red main branches and upright, reddish or greenish, bristly hairy branches. Quite large (up to 6 cm) reverse-oval, somewhat elongated leaves, rounded at the top, obtuse, strongly narrowed towards the base, bristly-hairy along the edge; above the leaf blade is dark green, shiny, below it is light green, bristly hairy along the veins. The flowers are large, 3-4 cm in diameter, on long bristly hairy pedicels, solitary or 2-5 in loose cysts, pink-purple-red to blood-red.

 

It is frost-hardy, it develops better in stony areas with loose, fresh, humus soil, in places protected from the sun. Very beautiful at the time of flowering. As a frost-resistant species, it is valuable for park construction in the northern regions of Russia, for borders, group and border plantings, in the undergrowth of sparse plantations. In culture since 1800. Fully winter-hardy.