STEVENIANUS (Rouy & Camus) 't Hart, 1995
Synonyms :
Sedum stevenianum Rouy & Camus (1901) / Asterosedum stevenianum (Rouy & Camus) Grulich (1984)
Sedum roseum Steven (1812)
Sedum hametianum Leveillé (1916)
Subgenus Phedimus
Distribution : Georgia (Eastern and central Caucasus); rocky sites in the alpine zone.
Description (according to IHSP, 2003) :
Glabrous perennial herbs with very short, branching, densely leafy, ascending, sterile stems, rooting at the nodes.
Leaves decussate, spatulate to spatulate-obovate or ovate-cuneate, entire, very fleshy, sessile, 2 - 6 x 1 - 4 mm.
Flowering branches apressed to the ground or ascending, slender, flexuous, glabrous, 2.5 - 10 cm.
Inflorescences corymbs with 3 - 9 flowers, bracts leaf-like to very small and scale-like, pedicels ± 4 mm.
Flowers 5-merous, sepals basally connate, linear-lanceolate, obtuse, 1.5 - 3 mm, petals oblong-lanceolate to subovate, subobtuse or shortly mucronate, entire, carinate with reddish keel, 4.5 - 7 mm, anthers pink or reddish.
P. stevenianus seems to be endemic to the eastern and central Caucasus (Grossheim 1950) and its occurrence in China is very unlikely (Fu & Fu 1984: 157). Consequently, Sedum hametianum is placed here with great doubt.