Description

Rhododendron arboreum, the tree rhododendron, is an evergreen member of the family Ericaceae and the state tree of both Uttarakhand and Nagaland. It is native to the Himalayan arc from Afghanistan to Yunnan, China, and to the hills of the Western Ghats, growing in montane and sub-alpine forests between 1,500 and 3,600 metres elevation. The brilliant scarlet-red flowers appear between February and April and have been a component of traditional hill community food and beverage preparations in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Nepal, where the petals are processed into squash and vinegar. The dried flowers have also been incorporated into ethnobotanical applications among Himalayan communities for their astringent and tonic properties documented in regional folk medicine records.