Rhododendron & Tulips - May 2011

Rhododendron & Tulips in the front yard: For a long time, I thought peony (牡丹) was シャクナゲ(shakunage) which turns out to be Rhododendron. I was also confused with 牡丹(a tree peony, native to China) and 芍薬(シャクヤク, Paeonica lactiflora), a flowering plant/grass peony or paeony.

Rhododendron subg. Hymenanthes is a subgenus of the genus Rhododendron, with a widespread distribution in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The species are evergreen shrubs and small to medium-sized trees (up to 20 m tall), with medium-sized to large leaves (very large, over 40 cm long, in a few species). The flowers are large, produced in terminal trusses of 5-40 together.

Shakunage: Rhodoendron, subcategory: Hymenathes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhododendron_subg._Hymenanthes

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%8A%E3%82%B2