A low evergreen azalea, perhaps 2 or 3 ft high, with the slender wiry stems covered thickly with appressed, linear, dark brown bristles, that point towards the end of the shoot. Leaves narrowly oval or obovate, 1⁄4 to 3⁄4 in. long, 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. wide, dark green, and thinly furnished above and on the margins with bristly hairs, paler and with a few bristles beneath, base tapering to a very short stalk. Flowers mostly solitary at the end of short twigs, on pedicels 1⁄8 in. or less long, opening in May. Calyx small, with five rounded bristly lobes. Corolla pale rose or white, funnel-shaped, about 3⁄4 in. across, with five oblong lobes. Stamens five. Ovary clad with appressed hairs; style glabrous. Bot. Mag., t. 7503. (s. Azalea ss. Obtusum)
Native of central and southern Japan. This quaint and pretty little shrub is not often seen, though it is said to be quite hardy. It was introduced for Messrs Veitch by Charles Maries, and flowered with them in 1882. The white-flowered form has been distinguished as f. albiflorum Makino.