Rhododendron Gowenianum Group (Ad)

An evergreen or semi-evergreen shrub to 2m high, with elliptic, leathery dark green leaves. Buds are red over winter, and open to produces clusters of funnel-shaped, fragrant, light purple flowers, with narrow petals and faint brown spots in the throat, in early summer. Said to be a cross between evergreen rhododendron hybrids and deciduous azaleas, first described in the 1820s