A grey, deciduous unarmed shrub 3 to 6 ft high, of rounded, compact habit; young shoots downy and glandular. Leaves roundish or rather broader than long, three- or five-lobed, the lobes irregularly round-toothed, the base straight or heart-shaped, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. wide, upper surface sown with white, resinous glands and slightly downy, lower one downy on the veins; stalk downy, glandular, nearly as long as the blade. Flowers tubular, 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. long, clustered two to five together at the end of a short, downy, glandular stalk, the individual flower almost stalkless, downy, white tinged with rose, produced in the axil of a comparatively large, toothed, glandular-downy, wedge-shaped bract. Style downy. Fruits bright red, 1⁄4 in. in diameter. Bot. Mag., t. 3008.
Native of western N. America; introduced in 1827 by David Douglas. It is a very pleasing shrub, conspicuous in the pale grey tint of its young leaves, and pretty in the delicate colouring of its abundant blooms. These appear with the young leaves in April.
R. inebrians Lindl. R. cereum var. inebrians (Lindl.) C. L. Hitchc. – Very similar to the above, and equally pleasing, this differs in having the bract at the base of each flower not toothed and pointed, the style glabrous, and the flowers deeper in colour. Introduced from western N. America in 1827.