White azalea flower blossom spring summer bright floral petals macro close-up pretty bloom shrub flowering Mandy Collins mc0014 Tiff available up to 64mb filesize ;
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Description
Rhododendron Arboreum is an evergreen shrub or small tree with showy displays of bright red flowers. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It is the national flower of Nepal.
The word Rhododendron is from Greek origin - the word 'Rhodo' means Rose, the word 'Dendron' means tree,so together 'Rose tree'. They belong to the genus Rhododendron, as the Azaleas. This genus belongs to the family of the Ericaceae to which also belong the heathers Calluna and Erica, and f.i. Gaultheria and Vaccinium etc. It is a very large family of which the genus Rhododendron consists of about 1.000, yes about one thousand species. The origin of most of them is Asia, China, Japan and Korea, but also the Caucasus (R. caucasicum) and Asia Minor, (R. smirnovii). In the Swiss and Austrian Alps we find the species R. ferrugineum and R. hirsutum And in North-America, most in the USA, .there are alo some Rhododendron, like the R. catawbiense on the east coast and the R. macrophyllum on the west coast. . Also a number of fine native Azaleas, like R. occidentale on the west coast and many others more on the (south)east side of the USA. Examples are R. arborescens, R. calendulaceum and R. atlanticum. Many are fragrant, also the hybrids. More and more they are getting the attention they deserve. The Rhododendrons we see and plant in our gardens are mostly hybrids, bred out of the original species. This hybridizing work started mainly in Europe, first in England, later also in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. English, but also Dutch, French and German planthunters introduced many species from Asia to Europe