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Prostrate to mounding dwarf shrubs with a creeping habit.  This species is quite distinctive and unusual in that it is a dwarf “alpine” elepidote.  Thus it has the same type of leaves and flowers as the “typical rhododendron” most people are familiar with instead of the smaller scaly leaves and flowers seen on most dwarf alpine species.  The leaves are quite variable in shape and smooth on both surfaces.  The flowers (early spring) are in the shape of a wide-open bell and vary in color from cream to pale yellow, often with darker spots.  A rarely cultivated species  ideal for the rock garden and performing well even in light shade.  Extremely hardy and relatively slow growing, this species is native over a wide area of N Asia including Siberia, N China and N Japan.  It is quite common in the wild and covers huge quantities of open slopes in some portions of its range.  Occurs from 5,000 to 9,000 ft.

1964/208  Greig:Walker  (-15\R2\1.5 wide).  Prostrate to mounding evergreen shrubs with small rounded leaves.  Cream to pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers in early spring.  Choice and rare dwarf species for the rock garden.

1973/062  Fred Robbins  (-10).  Perhaps disappointing for the blossoms’ pale yellow color, which shows best with a dark brown background, this plant is valuable for its small deep green leaves little more than an inch in length, its prostrate habit, its cold hardiness and its early spring blooming period.

1976/109  BERG  (-15\R2\1.5 wide).  Creamy white flowers with a pale pink blush at the base.

1976/194  RBG  (-10).  Collected in Siberia.  Form with yellow flowers.

1977/648  Leach  (-10).  A dwarf hardy elepidote rhododendron native to the windswept mountains of eastern Asia.

1999sd346  RSBG  (-15\R2\1.5 wide).  These are seedlings grown from seed collected wild at 6,550 ft. on Mt. Daisetsu, Japan.