PLUMBIZINCICOLA   Guo & Zhou ex Wu, 2013

Distribution : Restricted to lead-zinc mining areas in Zhejiang Province, China. Only known from the type locality.

Description :

Perennial, light green or yellowish green herbs.

Roots fibrous.

Rhizomes slender and horizontal, yellowish brown or dark brown, to 7 cm long, ca. 4 - 8 mm in diameter.

Sterile stems several-branched, erect, 10 - 25 cm, densely caespitose.

 Leaves alternate, ususally deciduous, crowded distally on stem, ovate to obovate-spatulate, 1 - 5 x 0.5 - 1.5 cm, glabrous, apex blunt, base cuneate, pseudopetiolate.

Inflorescence up to 35 cm tall, erect, much-branched, corymbiform, many flowered, bracts linear to linear-lanceolate, 5 - 10 x 3 - 8 mm.

Flowers sessile, unequally 4-merous, sepals narrowly triangulate, ca. 1 - 2 mm long, petals lanceolate, 4 - 6 x 1 - 1.5 mm, acute, yellow, stamens slightly shorter than the petals, filaments greenish, anthers yellow.

Flowering time June - August.

The authors write : "This species has a strong ability to hyperaccumulate zinc and cadmium, and is a promising taxon in the restoration of metal-polluted soils by phytoremediation." S. plumbizincicola superficially resembles S. alfredii and three other Sedum species found in the same area - S. emarginatum, S. hangzhouense and S. baileyi - but differs from these in bearing 4-merous flowers.

Published in Plant Syst Evol (2013) 299: 487-498.