Great rhododendron
Rhododendron maximum L.
- light
- Any light
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 3.0 m
- wide
- 2.6 m
Ericaceae
Also called Large Rhododendron, Big laurel, Great laurel
Formerly Hymenanthes maxima, Rhododendron ashleyi, Rhododendron latifolium, Rhododendron purpureum, and 1 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- E. U.S.A.Kew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Sun or shadeRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 1.5 m to 4.6 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 1.5 m to 3.7 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, pinkRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension green, orange, pink, white; Wikipedia pink, purple, white
- Coldest it survives
- -40 °C (USDA zone 3a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- RHOMAX, rosebay rhododendron
- French
- rhododendron géant
- Spanish
- Azalea grande
- Czech
- pěnišník největší
- Chinese (China)
- 极大杜鹃
- Polish
- Różanecznik olbrzymi
- Estonian
- suur rodo, suur rododendron
- Swedish
- sommarrododendron
- Russian
- Рододендрон крупнейший, Рододендрон большой
- Danish
- guldazalea
- Finnish
- appalakkienalppiruusu
- Slovak
- rododendron najväčší
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-26, CC BY
- 3D model: Rhododendron maximum (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.