Pukeiti

Family: Ericaceae (Heath)

Distribution: China (Xizang (Tibet), Yunnan); Myanmar (north west)

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Life form: Tree - evergreen

Comments: Habit: Slow growing, broadly upright to spreading shrub or small tree. It can grow to 9m tall but in cultivation it's more often a maximum of 5m.
Bark: Rough.
Foliage: Dense with handsome leaves. They're wider towards the tip with a wedge shaped base that tapers into the short petiole. The petiole is flattened and has a winged ridge along each side. The leaf's upper surface is dark green with hairs, slightly indented which gives a bubbled appearance. The underside is covered with a thin, sometimes flaky layer of shiny indumentum which is fawn to bronze when young but becomes grey-white with age. The leaves can be up to 40cm x 14cm on a young plant but usually are smaller as the plant ages.
Flowers: Flowers are held in a racemose (elongated) umbel (inflorescense). They are white or creamy, sometimes flushed with reddish-pink or magenta, usually with a crimson blotch and spots. Flowers August to October in the southern hemisphere but it takes many years for a seedling to flower.
History: First known to botanists from a collection by George Forrest in 1914 in NW Yunnan, China. He found it at altitudes of 3400 - 4300m, growing in mixed pine and rhododendron forest. The name praestans means excellent. It was later found in SE Xijiang (Tibet) and NE Myanmar (Burma) and has been collected from the wild many times.
Culitvation information: A tough plant which grows naturally at altitudes of 2700 - 430 m in dry, open pine forests. It is one of the hardiest of all the large leaf rhododendrons. Extremely attractive to look at all year round. Some plants can be shy to flower, even in old age, while others are prolific flowerers but you will always have to wait a long time for a seedling to flower.