Ceylon giant

This magnificent specimen, or at least the lower trunks of it, is, to give it its Sunday name, Rhododendron arboreum subsp. zeylanicum. Rhododendron arboreum itself is a common species which occurs through all altitude ranges of the Sino-Himalayas, those at lower altitudes being red-flowered and tender, rising through pink and finally white, which are the most hardy. There's a subspecies, nilagiricum, in the Nilagiri Hills of southern India and then this most southerly subspecies in what was once Ceylon.

We have a number of specimens at Arduaine, probably brought back as seed by Arthur Campbell at the end of the 19th century and now huge and magnificent shrubs. They flower in July, with blood-red flowers. We possibly have the best specimens in the British Isles, unless, of course, you know different, as Esther Rantzen used to say! The size of the trunks is indicated by the presence of Rosie the cat, who crept into the picture!