…Rhododendron mallotum
stunning crimson to scarlet flowers in early spring
contrast with dense cinnamon-brown indumentum
on undersides of leaves; a shiny bronzed trunk
flowering freely in March-April
broadly oblanceolate to obovate
a dense rufous lanate tomentum
composed of dendroid hairs
petioles densely tomentose
notched lobes
corolla fleshy, crimson
tubular-campanulate
with nectar pouches
ovary densely rufous-tomentose
silky-hairy; style glabrous
flowers qirmizī, a word gifted from kermes
young shoots stout, downy
covered beneath with a rich, soft, brownish-red wool
veins on each side of the midrib terminated
by a yellowish, knob-like, shining mucro
carrying cremesín blossoms
corolla tubular-bell-shaped
rosy scarlet to deep-flushed crimson
beautiful leaves etched above, clad
beneath and on the stalks with
a vividly coloured indumentum
red-listed as endangered with extinction
a result of new road construction…
…beauty becomes extinction
torn down by the ego of the mundane