COCCINEA ssp. COCCINEA

Synonyms :

Rhodiola asiatica  D.Don (1825) / Sedum asiaticum  (D.Don) DC (1828) / Chamaerhodiola asiatica  (D.Don) Nakai (1934)

Sedum juparense  Fröderström (1935) / Rhodiola juparensis  (Fröderström) S.H.Fu (1965)

Distribution : Afghanistan, Bhutan, north-western India, Kashrnir, Nepal, Tibet, China (Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang); alpine regions, stony soils and rocks, 2600 - 4900 m

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

Dioecious, cushion-forming, 1 - 5 cm tall.

Rhizomes thick, basally tapering into carrot-like slender roots, branches of rhizomes 0.5 - 8 x 1 - 3 cm in diameter.

Flowering stems 5 - 10 from each rhizome branch, fastigiate, glabrous, ± 1 mm in diameter, marcescent, straw-yellow or brownish.

Leaves ± flat, widely spreading, sessile, linear to linear-elliptic, 3 - 7 x 0.6 - 1.2 mm, glabrous, smooth, tip round to obtuse, base attenuate, margin entire.

Inflorescences dichasia but sometimes reduced to a single terminal flower,pedicels < 2 mm, smooth.

FIowers 4-merous, 3 - 4 mm in diameter; calyx 2.5 - 3.5 mm, fleshy, glabrous, tube funnel-shaped, 0.6 - 1.2 mm, sepals linear-ovate to subulate, 1.4 - 2.5 mm, petals red or yellow, oblong-obovate to narrowly oblong-ovate, 2.5 - 3.5 mm, spreading (male) or suberect to spreading (female), stamens as long as or longer than the petals, ascending to suberect, anthers red.

Flowering time : Late June to August.