PRIMULOIDES ssp. PRIMULOIDES

Synonyms :

Sedum pleurogynanthum  Handel-Mazzetti (1922) / Sedum primuloides var. pleurogynanthum

(Handel-Mazzetti) Fröderström (1930) / Rhodiola pleurogynantha  (Handel-Mazzetti) S.H.Fu (1965)

Distribution : China (south-eastern Qinghai, south-western Sichuan, western Yunnan), rocks on slopes, 2500 - 4400 m.

Description (according to H. Ohba in IHSP, 2003) :

Hermaphrodite, 3 - 5 cm taIl. 

Rhizomes ± cylindrical, 5 - 8 mm in diameter, often branched.

Rosettes with 30 - 50 leaves, 2 - 3.5 cm in diameter, with withered radical leaves below.

Radical foliage leaves petiolate, persistent after drying, broadly elliptic to orbicular to rhombic-ovate, 2 – 4 x 1.5 - 5 mm, glabrous, tip round, base attenuate, margin entire, petiole broadening towards base, 4 - 7 (-8) x 0.3 - 0.9 mm at the narrowest part, 2.5 – 3.5 mm wide at the base, dead leaves marcescent, degenerated into scaly appendages, brownish, scaly radical leaves triangular-ovate, 5 - 6 mm, brownish.

Flowering stems usually 1 from each rosette, glabrous.

Leaves sessile, oblong to narrowly obovate, 2.5 - 5 x 0.9 - 1.1 mm, glabrous, tip round to obtuse, base attenuate and then broadening, margin entire.

Inflorescences terminal, with 1 (-3) flowers.

FIowers urceolate, erect, 6 - 8 mm in diameter, calyx 4 – 6.5 mm, sepals lanceolate to triangular-ovate, 3.2 – 4.5 mm, petals broadly ovate to obovate or broadly eIliptic, 5 - 6.5 mm, white, irregularly fimbriate to erose along the margins, base shortly attenuate to clawed, stamens shorter than the petals, 4 - 5 mm, anthers yellow.

Flowering time : August to October.