''Rhododendron'' sect. ''Pentanthera'' is a section of subgenus ''
Pentanthera'' in the genus ''
Rhododendron''. It comprises 15-16 species of
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, ...
shrubs native to temperate regions of the
Northern Hemisphere.
It includes two subsections:
* Pentathera
* Sinensia
Subsection Pentanthera (16 species)
;Species
Subsection Sinensia (1 species)
;Selected species
*''
Rhododendron molle'' (syn. ''R. japonicum'')
The section is closely related to
sect. ''Rhodora'', differing from it in the
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
corolla having five fully developed lobes, whereas sect. ''Rhodora'' has the upper three lobes joined into a single three-lipped lobe.
Cultivation
Most (but not all) of the cultivated
azaleas belong to species in this section, and
hybrids derived from them.
References
Germplasm Resources Information Network: ''Rhododendron'' sect. ''Pentanthera''*Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan.
Pentanthera
Plant sections
Historically recognized angiosperm taxa
{{Ericaceae-stub