''Rhododendron hirsutum'', commonly known as the hairy alpenrose is one of the species of ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

'' native to the mountains of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It occurs widely in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

except for the southwestern region (approximately south and west of the Matterhorn), and has become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in parts of the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains ...

. It grows on carbonate-rich soils, whereas its close relative '' R. ferrugineum'' grows on acid soils; where the two occur together, they frequently produce the hybrid ''Rhododendron'' × ''intermedium''.

References

External links

* * hirsutum Alpine flora Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Ericaceae-stub