The major finding of Goetsch and colleagues was that all species examined (except "R. camtschaticum", subgenus "Therorhodion") formed three major clades which they labelled A, B and C, with the subgenera "Rhododendron" and "Hymenanthes" nested within clades A and B as monophyletic groups respectively. By contrast subgenera "Azaleastrum" and "Pentanthera" were polyphyletic, while "R. camtschaticum" appeared as a sister to all other rhododendrons. The small polyphyletic subgenera "Pentanthera" and "Azaleastrum" were divided between two clades. The four sections of "Pentanthera" between clades B and C, with two each, while "Azaleastrum" had one section in each of A and C.