''Rhododendron mucronulatum'', the Korean rhododendron or Korean rosebay (; RR: Jindalrae), is a

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

native to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and parts of northern China. It is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

that grows to in height, with elliptic or elliptic-

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

leaves, long by wide. The reddish-purple flowers appear in late winter or early spring, often on the bare branches before the foliage unfurls. It inhabits forested regions at . The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''mucronulatum'' means "sharply pointed", referring to the leaf shape.

Cultivation

The cultivar 'Cornell Pink' has light pink flowers, and has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

. It is hardy down to but like most rhododendron species requires a sheltered position in dappled shade with acid soil that has been enriched with

leaf mould Leaf mold (spelled leaf mould outside of the United States) is the compost produced by decomposition of shaded deciduous shrub and tree leaves, primarily by fungal breakdown in a slower cooler manner as opposed to the bacterial degradation of le ...

Culinary use

, the flowers are used in pan-fried flower cakes called ''

hwajeon ''Hwajeon'' (), or flower cake is a small Korean pan-fried rice cake. It is made out of glutinous rice flour, honey and edible petals from seasonal flowers, such as rhododendron. It is eaten during the festivals of ''Samjinnal'' and Buddha's Birt ...

'', which are traditional for

Samjinnal The Key Holiday () is a keyholiday originated from China, and is celebrated in multiple East Asian countries, including China and Korea. China The Double Third Festival () or Shangsi Festival () is a Chinese festival celebrated on the third ...

, a spring festival. It is also used in infused liquor.

Gallery

File:Korean pancake-Jindallae hwajeon-03.jpg, ''Jindallae-

'' (pan-fried rhododendron flower cake) File:Bog bilberry liquor and Korean rhododendron liquor.jpg, ''Deuljjuk- sul'' (

bog bilberry ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, northern bilberry or western blueberry) is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus ''Vaccinium'' within the heath family. Distribution ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' is native ...

liquor) and ''jindallae-sul'' (Korean rhododendron liquor) produced in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

File:Rhododendron mucronalatum Koreanatsalea IM7364 C.JPG, Helsinki University Botanical Garden File:Korea-Mount Biseul-Azalea Valley-01.jpg, Azalea Valley, Mt. Biseul, Korea

References

* "''Rhododendron mucronulatum''", Turczaninow, ''Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou''. 10(7): 155. 1837.
Plants of the World Online
{{Taxonbar, from=Q73315 mucronulatum Flora of Eastern Asia Flora of China Flora of Mongolia Flora of Russia Flora of Japan Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow