Authors: Franch.  

Botanical Description

Compact or upright and often leggy with age, to about 1m in height. Leaves more or less oblong-elliptic to orbicular, scaly above and densely so below. Flowers about 5cm wide, widely funnel-shaped, magenta to purple. R.s. subsp. chameunum is a dwarfer, cushion-shaped plant to 60cm with smaller dark green, glossy leaves without scales above, often with bronzy suffusion in early winter. Flowers often deeper coloured than in subsp. saluenense. Plants like this but more or less mat-forming were formerly known as R. prostratum. There are, however, many intermediates, which are now known as the Prostratum Group. South-western China, on stony hillsides, boulders, cliffs and forest margins, sometimes on limestone.