POLYTRICHOIDES   Hemsley, 1887

Synonyms :

Sedum polystichoides  hort. (s.a.)

Sedum kiusianum  Makino

Sedum yabeanum  Makino (1903) / Sedum polytrichoides var. yabeanum  (Makino) H.Ohba (2001)

Sedum coreense  Nakai (1914)

Sedum lepidopodum  Nakai (1940)

Sedum yabeanum var. setouchiense  Murata & Suasa (1975) / Sedum polytrichoides var. setouchiense  (Murata & Yuasa) H.Ohba (2001)

Distribution : E China to Korea (incl. Cheju Do Island) and the Russian border, Japan (Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku); near the coast and mountain forests at moist rocky places in shade.

Description (according to 't Hart, Bleij & U. Eggli in IHSP, 2003) :

Perennial tufted herbs with ascending slender densely leafy stems.

Leaves alternate, imbricate, linear-lanceolate to oblong, acute, 5 - 15 x 1 - 2 mm.

Flowering branches ascending, slender, branched from the base, more remotely leafy than the sterile stems, 5 - 10 cm.

Inflorescences corymb-like cymes with 2 - 3 sometimes forked cincinni.

Flowers 5-merous, sessile or subsessile, sepals broadly sessile, triangular, subacute to acuminate, 1.5 - 2 mm, petals slightly connate at the base, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate or shortly mucronate, yellow, 5 - 6 mm, filaments yellow.

Cytology : 2n = 22, 24, 24 - 30, 28, 28 - 40, 32, 40, 42, 44, 46, 50, 52, 54, 70

Morphologically and cytologically (Uhl & Moran 1972) a very variable species.

S. yabeanum and its var. setouchiense have recently been transferred to S. polytrichoides by Ohba (2201: 26 - 27) and were recognized at the level of subspecies and variety, respectively.

Also sold as Sedum polytrichoides 'Chocolate Ball' or simply S. 'Chocolate Ball', the latter is misleading because it wrongly suggest a hybrid.

Photos Noelene Tomlinson