QUADRIFIDA  (Pallas) Fischer & C.A.Meyer, 1841

Synonyms :

Sedum quadrifidum  Pallas (1776) / Chamaerhodiola quadrifida  (Pallas) Nakai (1934) / Kirpicznikovia quadrifida  (Pallas) A.Löve & D.Löve (1976)

Rhodiola quadrifida var. major   Fischer & C.A.Meyer (1841)

Rhodiola quadrifida var. minor   Fischer & C.A.Meyer (1841)

Type : Pallas s.n., Siberia, Russia.

Subgenus Rhodiola, section Chamaerhodiola

Etymology : Lat. ‘quadr-’ = four, '-fidus = divided : for the flowers with 4 petals.

Distribution : Eastern Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China (Xinjiang); alpine and arctic regions,

stony slopes and rocks, 2300 - 3700 m.

Description (by H. Ohba in IHSP, 2003) :

Dioecious, 6 - 9 cm tall. 

Rhizomes obconical.

Flowering stems fastigiate, 1 – 1.4 mm in diameter, glabrous, smooth, marcescent.

Leaves approximate, sessile, flat, linear-elliptic to very narrowly oblong or linear-lanceolate,

spreading, 5 - 12 x 0.8 - 1.5 mm wide, glabrous, tip round to obtuse, margin entire.

Inflorescences terminal, 6- to 12-flowered, pedicels usually 1.2 - 2 mm, smooth.

FIowers 4-merous, 3 - 4 mm in diameter, calyx 2.5 – 3.5 mm, glabrous, sepals linear-subulate to subulate, 1.8 - 2.5 mm,  petals oblong-ovate, white, 2.7 - 3 mm, ascending (male) or suberect (female), stamens as long as the petals, nectar scales linear to narrowly oblong, 1 - 1.2 mm, carpels 4 - 6 mm [2 - 3.5 mm (male)], each with 4 - 6 ovules, fruits 6 - 7 mm, red-brown, seeds elliptic, 1.8 - 2 mm, terminally winged, bright brown, longitudinally lowly striate.

Cytology : 2n = 20