About Rhododendron albiflorum Hook.
Rhododendron albiflorum Hook. is a deciduous shrub that reaches up to 2.5 meters in height. It produces thin, shiny medium-green elliptical leaves with smooth (entire) margins, measuring 4 to 9 centimeters long and attached to short petioles. The leaves are often slightly crinkled or wavy, particularly along their edges, and are sparsely covered with hairs that range in color from reddish to white. Leaves may be clustered in a rosette-like arrangement near the tips of twigs, or arranged alternately along the length of twigs. Flowers bloom in early to mid summer; they are white, and grow in outward-facing to slightly pendulous clusters of 1 to 5, borne in leaf axils on growth produced the previous year. Each flower can be up to 2 centimeters wide, with five petals fused at the base to form a bowl-shaped base, which often has yellowish speckles. In terms of range and habitat, Rhododendron albiflorum grows in mountainous areas from British Columbia to northern Oregon, and inland as far as western Alberta and eastern Montana, at elevations above 1,000 meters. A separate disjunct population of this species exists in the northern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It most commonly occurs on moist mountain slopes that are from densely to partially forested, where it often makes up a substantial portion of the shrubby understory.
