Rhodiola crenulata (Hook. fil. & Thoms.) H. Ohba

Caudex few branched, short, 5-20 cm; persistent old flowering stems and branches few, black when dry. Caudex leaves scalelike, oblanceolate, 1-2 cm, apex subacute. Sterile branches erect, 4-17 cm, apically densely leafy; leaves broadly obovate, 1-3 cm. Flowering stems numerous, erect or flabellate, straw-colored to red, 5-20 cm; leaves shortly pseudopetiolate; leaf blade elliptic-oblong to suborbicular, 1.2-3 × 1-2.2 cm, margin entire and undulate to crenate, apex obtuse to mucronate. Inflorescences corymbiform, ca. 2 × 2-3 cm, many flowered, bracteate. Flowers shortly to long pedicellate, unisexual, large, male ones unequally 5-merous. Sepals narrowly triangular, lanceolate, or oblong, 2-3.5 mm, apex obtuse to subobtuse. Petals red to purplish red, oblanceolate, (5-)6-7.5 × 1-1.5 mm, base long ungulate, apex obtuse. Stamens 10, equaling petals; antepetalous ones inserted ca. 2.5 mm from petal base. Nectar scales subquadrangular, quadrangular, or oblong, apex emarginate. Carpels lanceolate to oblong, 3-3.5(-6) mm, sterile. Styles short. Female flowers similar but stamens absent and carpels equaling petals. Follicles erect, red when dry, 8-10 mm. Seeds obovoid to ovoid, 1.5-2 mm, winged at both ends. Fl. Jun-Sep.

E. Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), ibet, Yunnan.

Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].

4800-5300 m

Thickets, grassland slopes, schist on mountain slopes, rocky places, rock crevices; 2800-5600 m.

Sedum crenulatum J. D. Hooker & Thomson, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 2: 96. 1858; Rhodiola euryphylla (Fröderström) S. H. Fu; R. megalophylla (Fröderström) S. H. Fu; R. rotundata (Hemsley) S. H. Fu; Sedum bupleuroides Wallich ex J. D. Hooker & Thomson var. rotundatum (Hemsley) Fröderström; S. euryphyllum Fröderström; S. megalanthum Fröderström; S. megalophyllum Fröderström; S. rotundatum Hemsley; S. rotundatum Hemsley var. oblongatum C. Marquand & Airy Shaw.