Author 'D.marsim' (Id 147498 ) : Lilac rhododendron in front of a building near my house. In medieval times, the rhododendron was called "rhododendron." The term has been retained until the 18th Siec since Joseph Pitton de Tournefort introduced in 1702 the "rhododendron of the Black Sea" after a trip to Asia Minor. It is the naturalist Carl Linnaeus that we owe the name of Rhododendron.