MICROCARPUM   (Smith) Schönland, 1890

Synonyms :

Crassula microcarpa  Smith (1806) / Telmissa microcarpa  (Smith) Boissier (1872)

Telmissa sedoides  Fenzl (1842)

Distribution : Cyprus, Turkey (S and E Anatolia), W Syria; rocky limestone hills, in vernal pools, hollows and crevices flooded by winter rains, 100 - 600 m.

Description (according to U. Eggli in IHSP, 2003) :

Minute annual herbs, glabrous, erect.

Stems usually unbranched, 5 - 12 cm tall.

Leaves alternate, linear, semiterete, 4 - 10 mm, sessile.

Inflorescences lax cymes with 2 - 4 branches with 8 - 20 flowers each.

Flowers 3- to 5-merous, sessile, sepals  ± 5mm, obtuse, petals pinkish-white, ± 1 mm, carpels 1 - 1.5 mm, angular-prismatic, tuberculate, punctate, completely free, with a single ovule.

Said to be rare, but perhaps simply difficult to locate due to its minute size. The monotypic genus Termissa allegedly differs from Sedum by 1-seeded carpels, but this is not regarded as sufficient to keep it distinct.