Rhododendron kesangiae var album is a beautiful and relatively large leaved species was my first and only encounter and the only one still with newly opened flowers. The other plants here were already starting to fade and had lost most of the pink hues and become mostly white. This might also be a natural variance of this species, as well as in response to the amount of direct sunlight on the inflorescences.
This was the last day of the rhododendron festival held here in the Lamperi Botanical Park, but compared to my encounters in the wild I found few rhododendrons in bloom here compared to just 500 meters higher.
As this was my only encounter of this species I had very little choice in specimens and thus this image is not the most amazing perhaps, but at least I have a record of yet another of the many amazing rhododendron species in Bhutan.
In addition to the rhododendrons, this park was full of amazing birds species, so this is a location for birders and plant lovers alike.
As the day progressed and I was done with my observations it became very clear that this was indeed a day of festivities. When I arrived well before 9 in the morning I was more or less alone, but a couple of hours later the central part of the park was completely inundated with visitors, performers and very loud music. Definitely time for me to move on.
Elevation 2691 meters.
Last updated on 8 November 2024
