A new species of Rhododendron from New Guinea (Ericaceae)

The Star Mountains of New Guinea are situated at the geographic center of the Island of New Guinea extending on both sides of the Indonesian-Papua New Guinea border. Access to these mountains from either side of the border which divides the island is relatively difficult and as a result few collections have come from the area. A Dutch expedition traveled to the western Star Mountains in 1959, but ran into various difficulties and as a result did little collecting above 1500 m. In 1975 an expedition sponsored jointly by the Division of Botany, Lae, and the Rijksherbarium, Leiden, returned to the Star Mountains collecting extensively throughout the eastern half of the range. The results of this expedition include the first extensive collections of material from the higher altitudes within the Star Mountains. Material collected for the Division of Botany, Lae, by J. R. Croft and G. S. Hope while on the 1975 expedition is surprisingly rich in species of Rhododendron. I was asked by Mr. Croft to examine the Lae material prior to its distribution. The collections contain representatives of several poorly known species of the genus, at least one new plant record for Papua New Guinea, Rhododendron rubrobracteatum Sleumer, and the new taxon described below.