The type specimen was collected from Zhaotong, Yunnan.
It is native to northeastern Yunnan, China.
Rhododendron tsaii
Inflorescences are terminal umbel-like cymes with 3-7 flowers, and flower buds lack scales. Flower stalks are 1-2.5 mm long, densely covered with scales. Sepals are small, 0.8-1 mm long, reddish, with 5 ovate to rounded lobes, covered with light-colored scales and sparse cilia along the edges. Corollas are small, funnel-shaped, 4.5-6.8 mm long, pale purple, with a 2-2.8 mm long tube, outer surface scaleless and hairless inside except for sparse short hairs. Stamens (4)5(-7), unequal in length, about 4 mm long, slightly shorter than the corolla, with hairless filaments. Ovary is about 1 mm long, densely covered with light-colored scales, and the style is about 2 mm long, slightly shorter than the stamens, and hairless.