Rhodiola bupleuroides (Wall. ex Hook. fil. & Thoms.) Fu

Perennial dioecious herb. Root robust, branched. Rhizome thick, elongated or stout 1-3 cm thick, nearly obconical. Scaly radical leaves on the apical part of the rhizome. Flowering stems 1-2, rarely 5-10 on each rhizome, simple, erect, glabrous, 5-100 cm high, 1-5 mm thick at anthesis, dead flowering stems deciduous. Cauline leaves, alternate, sessile or shortly petiolate, elliptic, oblong-ovate, obovate, entire-remotely serrate, obtuse or acute, glabrous, 1-9.5 x 0.4-4.5 cm. Inflorescence terminal, many-flowered corymb, bracteate. Bracts similar to the cauline leaves. Flowers usually 5-merous, unisexual, pedicel 2-5 mm long. Calyx 1.5-8 x 0.3-1.2 mm, lobes basally connate, glabrous, purplish, linear-lanceolate, narrowly triangular, entire, obtuse. Petals glabrous, entire, dark purplish-red, obovate to ovate, 2-4 x 1-2 mm in male, oblong to oblong-ovate, 1.5-4 x 0.5-1.5 mm in female. Stamens 10, as long as petals, in two whorls, basifixed, epipetalous 1.5-3.5 mm long, alternipetalous 2-4 mm long. Pistillodes 0.8-2 x 0.5-1 mm, style indistinct in male. Carpels 3.5-9 x 1-2 mm, style 0.2-0.3 mm long, ovules 10-16 per locule. Nectar scales oblong, 0.5-1.2 x 0.3-0.8 mm. Follicles 5-12 x 1.5-2 mm. Seeds 10-16 per fruit, ellipsoid, apex round, brown, 1.4-2.5 x 0.3-0.5 mm.

Caudex erect, dusky, obconical, to 10 × 3 cm. Caudex leaves brown-black, scalelike. Flowering stems 1 or 2, (1-)5-60(-100) cm. Stem leaves alternate, abaxially greenish, narrowly to broadly elliptic, narrowly to broadly ovate, oblong-ovate, obovate, or suborbicular, 0.3-6(-9) × 0.4-2.2(-4.5) cm, base cordate to shortly or long attenuate, margin entire or sparsely serrate, apex rounded, obtuse, acute, or mucronate. Inflorescences terminal, corymbiform, 7-100-flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers unisexual, male ones unequally 5-merous. Sepals purplish red, narrowly oblong, oblong-ovate, or narrowly triangular, 1-5 × 0.3-1.2 mm, apex rounded to obtuse. Petals dark purplish red, obovate or narrowly so, 2.8-4 × 1.2-1.6 mm in male flowers, 1.5-3 × 0.5-0.7 mm in female ones. Stamens 10, equaling or slightly shorter than petals. Nectar scales oblong or narrowly or transversely so, apex emarginate. Carpels of female flowers erect, broadest at base, 3-5 × as long as petals, apex recurved. Follicles 4-5(-10) mm. Seeds 10-16. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

Himalaya (Nepal to Bhutan), Tibet, N.W. Burma, Yunnan.

Distribution: Pakistan, India (Kumaon), Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar and S. W. China (Xizang, Yunnan and Sichuan).

W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].

2000-5100 m

Fl.Per.: July-September.

Grows from 2750-3700 m on rocks, crevices and grassy slopes.

Thickets, grassy places, rock crevices on slopes; 2400-5700 m.

Sedum bupleuroides Wallich ex J. D. Hooker & Thomson, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 2: 98. 1858; Rhodiola bhutanica (Praeger) S. H. Fu; R. hookeri S. H. Fu; Sedum bhutanense Praeger; S. bhutanicum Praeger; S. cooperi Praeger (1919), not Clemenceau (1868); S. gorisii Raymond-Hamet.

Flowering from June to August; fruiting from August to September.

Rhodiola bupleuroides is close relative of Rhodiola discolor, but differs from the latter in its caudex erect (vs. subprostrate, ascending, or suberect), stem leaves abaxially not glaucescent (vs. abaxially ± glaucescent), petals of male flowers 2.8-4 mm long, 1.2-1.6 mm wide (vs. 5-6 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide), those of female flowers 1.5-3 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide (vs. 3-4 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide).

Rhodiola bupleuroides is occurring in W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan of China, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim.

Caudex erect, dusky, obconical, to 10 cm tall, 3 cm in diameter. Caudex leaves brown-black, scalelike. Flowering stems 1 or 2, 5-60 cm. Stem leaves alternate, abaxially greenish, narrowly to broadly elliptic, narrowly to broadly ovate, oblong-ovate, obovate, or suborbicular, 0.3-6 cm, 0.4-3.2 cm wide, base cordate to shortly or long attenuate, margin entire or sparsely serrate, apex rounded, obtuse, acute, or mucronate. Inflorescences terminal, corymbiform, 7-100-flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers unisexual, male ones unequally 5-merous. Sepals purplish red, narrowly oblong, oblong-ovate, or narrowly triangular, 1-5 mm long, 0.3-1.2 mm wide, apex rounded to obtuse. Petals dark purplish red, obovate or narrowly so, 2.8-4 mm long, 1.2-1.6 mm wide in male flowers, 1.5-3 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide in female ones. Stamens 10, equaling or slightly shorter than petals. Nectar scales oblong or narrowly or transversely so, apex emarginate. Carpels of female flowers erect, broadest at base, 3-5 times as long as petals, apex recurved. Follicles 4-7 mm. Seeds 10-16.

The chromosomal number of Rhodiola bupleuroides is 2n = 20, 22, 44, 66, 88, 110 (Wakabayashi, 1992; Ohba and Wakabayashi, 1993).

Growing in thickets, grassy places, rock crevices on slopes; 2400-5700 m.