Rhododendron kawakamii
Rhododendron kawakamii is a plant endemic to Taiwan. It is also called Kawakami's rhododendron, as the type specimen was collected by Takiya Kawakami and others from Xingaoshan (today named Yu Shan or Mount Jade). This species is the only native, epiphytic, yellow flowered rhododendron in Taiwan, and is scattered in the fog forest belt of the island at an altitude of about . It was first published as a new species by Bunzo Hayata in 1911. The wild community was assessed as "near-threatened" in the Taiwan Red Book of Vascular Plants in 2017. Description This plant is an epiphytic shrub with a height of around . The branches are well developed, often curved, with smooth and hairless surface with glandular dots. Bud scales have a sharp tip and tiny cilia on the surface. The leaves range from long and wide, clustered, thick leathery, obovate, with a blunt or small apex. The base of the leaf is acuminate to sharp, and the leaf margin is slightly curved backward. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green, smooth and hairless, while the lower surface of the leaf is lighter in color with the middle rib and lateral veins depressed on the upper surface and raised on the lower surface. The leaf stalk is about 0.25 cm long and has wings. The inflorescence tends to have 2 to 5 flowers growing in a corymbose shape, resembling umbrella ribs. The flower stalk is approximately long, with sparse glandular dots on the surface. The calyx is five-lobed and dish-shaped. Normally, the lobes are irregular, with glandular dots and short cilia. The corolla is yellow and bell-shaped with five petals which are about long and wide. They are oval in shape with glandular dots, spirally arranged on the disk. Generally, there are 10 stamens, which vary in length. Pistils are slightly shorter than stamens. The capsules are ovoid, long and sparsely villous on the surface. Classification Rhododendron kawakamii was first described by the Japanese botanist Bunzo Hayata in 1911. The specimens collected by Hayata himself, Kawakami Takiya, and Mori Ushinosuke from Yushan, Luandashan and other locations in Taiwan were published as a new species in Volume 30 of the Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo. In addition to describing the specimen’s morphology in detail, Hayata also discussed the similarities and differences between this species and Rhododendron emarginatum, Rhododendron anthopogonoides, and dwarf rhododendron (Rhododendron pumilum) from the Himalayas. However, the corolla color was not mentioned in the article. When Ryozo Kanehira published "Taiwan Tree Chronicle" in 1936, in addition to citing the results of Hayata in 1911, he also added that the flower color of this species was white to pink. In 1960, Tang-Shui, Liu and Can-Yang, Chuang retained Ryozo Kanehira’s views, and treated the yellow-flowered species as a new variety of yellow-flowered rhododendron (R. kawakamii var. flaviflorum), which was later incorporated into Volume 4, Flora of Taiwan (Edition 1) in 1978. Several characteristics, including flower color, are used to distinguish the