Rhodoleia
(from rhodon, a rose, and leios, smooth; perhaps referring to the rose-like flowers and the spineless stems). ORD. Hamamelideae. A genus comprising a couple of species of small, highly glabrous, greenhouse or stove trees, with the habit of Rhododendron; one is from Hong Kong, and the order a native of Sumatra. Flowers hermaphrodite, about five in an axillary, pedunculate, nodding head, girded by a coloured, many-leaved involucre; petals rose-colour, two to four, very unequal, clawed; stamens seven to ten, inserted with the petals. Leaves crowded at the tips of the branchlets, spreading, alternate, long-petioled, evergreen, glaucous beneath, oblong, entire, thickly coriaceous. For culture of R. Championi--the only species introduced--see Gardenia.
R. Championi (Champion's). fl. 21/2in. in diameter; outer involucral leaflets (sepals) about twelve; inner ones (petals) about eighteen. February. fr. of five radiating capsules, each the size of a small hazel-nut. l. bright green, elliptic-obovate, obtuse. Hong Kong, 1852. (B. M. 4509.)