Slow-growing upright shrubs to small trees (30 feet in the wild).  The extremely attractive leaves are elliptic to ovate in shape with a pointed apex.  They are covered with a thick yellowish orange-brown indumentum beneath and have a thinner brownish indumentum above which gradually fades.  The petioles and younger stems are also covered with a thick whitish to orange-brown woolly indumentum.  The bell-shaped flowers (mid-spring) are pale yellow with reddish flecks.  This is a stunning new introduction which was thought to be a form of the closely related r. lanatum until recently.  It differs in its larger size and larger, more pointed leaf.  Also, it occurs to the east of the range of lanatum.  Native to open slopes and coniferous forests from 10,750 to 13,800 ft. in SE Tibet.