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Rhododendron luteum
Also called Yellow Rhodea
Rhododendron luteum, the yellow or honeysuckle azalea, is a deciduous shrub of the heath family grown for its strongly scented bright yellow spring flowers. Give it partial shade and moist but well-drained acidic soil.
Rhododendron luteum, the yellow azalea or honeysuckle azalea, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to southeastern Europe and southwest Asia. In Europe, it occurs from southern Poland and Austria, south through the Balkans, and east to southern Russia; and in Asia, east to the Caucasus.
It is a shrub growing 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft). The leaves are deciduous, 5–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad. The flowers are 3–4 cm in diameter, bright yellow, and strongly perfumed, produced in trusses of 5–25 together. The fruit is a dry capsule 15–25 mm long, containing numerous small seeds.
It is widely cultivated in western Europe, used both as an ornamental plant in its own right, and as a rootstock onto which other azalea cultivars are grafted. It is locally naturalised in western and northern Europe. In Great Britain it has colonised many wet heaths and bogs, but unlike its relative Rhododendron ponticum it does not usually form dominant stands and so is of lower nature conservation concern. However it is listed under Schedule 9 of the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as a non-native invasive species. While it is legal to sell and grow it in gardens, users are expected to take care when disposing of material from this plant.
R. luteum has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Rhododendron album · Rhododendron anthopogon · Rhododendron argyrophyllum · Rhododendron augustinii · Rhododendron bureavii · Rhododendron calophytum · Rhododendron calostrotum · Bell Flowered Rhododendron · Bent-style rhododendron · Rhodora · Catawba rosebay · Georgian Snow Rose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhododendron luteum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
