Rounded evergreen shrubs with flaking purplish to gray-green bark. The stunning foliage of this rare species is among the finest in the genus. The thickly textures, obovate leaves can be six or seven inches in length. They are dark green with a deeply impressed network of veins on top and covered with a dense, woolly reddish-brown indumentum beneath. The fleshy tubular-bell shaped flowers (early spring) are crimson to scarlet or cherry red. A fantastic species for the woodland garden with beautiful foliage and flowers. Like many popular but difficult to propagate, most of the plants seen in gardens or sold in nurseries are hybrids. Native along the Yunnan/Burma border where it occurs in bamboo thickets and on rocky slopes from 10,000 to 12,000 ft.
#9809 Sinclair (+5\R1\4). Rarely offered species with red flowers in early spring. One of the most spectacular species for foliage with large obovate leaves to eight inches in length. The upper surface is rugose and the lower is covered with a woolly cinnamon-brown indumentum. These are large plants grown by June Sinclair from seed produced by crossing two good garden forms. Our first offering in many years. Only a few this year.
1976/150 WGP (+25). This form received an Award of Merit in 1933 for its crimson flowers and the same award in 1973 for its beautiful foliage.
2000sd542 BASE#9672 (+5\R1\4). These are grown from my collection of seed at 10,650 ft. on the Hpimaw Pass in the mountains along the Yunnan/Burma frontier. This is the first introduction of this species into cultivation since 1924. A rare and exciting opportunity to purchase a true specimen of one of the finest species in the genus.
