Rhododendron alutaceum is a rhododendron species native to Tibet and southwestern China (western Sichuan, southeastern Xizang, and northwestern Yunnan), where it grows at altitudes of 3200–4300 meters. It is a shrub that grows to 1.5–4 m in height, with thick, leatherly leaves that are oblong and broadly lanceolate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 5–14 by 1.5–3.5 cm in size. Flowers are white to pink, with crimson spots and purplish-red basal blotch.