Rhodiola coccinea (Royle) A. Boriss.

Perennial dioecious herb. Root long slender. Rhizome thick, elongated, 1-3 cm wide. Scaly radical leaves on the apical part of the rhizome. Flowering stems 2-10 in number on each rhizome, simple, erect, glabrous, stramineous, brownish or purplish red, smooth to papillate-scabrid, 1-5 cm high, 0.3-2 mm wide at anthesis, old flowering stems persistent. Cauline leaves alternate, sessile, entire, obtuse, glabrous, linear, linear-lanceolate, 3-7 x 0.6-1.5 mm. Inflorescence terminal, dichasium, usually reduced to a single flower, bracteate. Bracts similar to the cauline leaves. Flowers red, rarely yellow, unisexual, 4-5 merous, pedicellate. Calyx 1.5-4 x 0.5-1.5 mm, lobes basally connate, entire, acute, obtuse or acuminate, glabrous, oblong, triangular-oblong, lanceolate. Petals entire, obtuse, glabrous, subobovate, oblong-ovate, oblong-obovate, lanceolate, broadly oblong, 1.5-4 x 0.7-2 mm. Stamens 8-10, longer or as long as the petals, in two whorls, basifixed, epipetalous 1.5-2.5 mm long, alternipetalous 3-4 mm long. Pistillodes 1.5-3.5 x 0.2-0.8 mm, style 0.2-0.4 mm long. Carpels 3-6 x 1-1.5 mm, style indistinct. Nectar scales oblong, 0.5-1.3 x 0.3-0.5 mm. Follicles 4-7 x 0.5-1.2 mm. Seeds 4-12 per fruit, ellipsoidal, 1-1.8 x 0.2-0.5 mm, brown, terminally winged.

Main root 10-30 cm or longer. Caudex thick; persistent old flowering stems present. Winter bud at apex of rhizome inconspicuous. Caudex leaves brown, scalelike, orbicular-triangular, ca. 5 × 6-8 mm. Flowering stems erect or curved, 1-5 cm × less than 1 mm or 1.5-2 mm. Stem leaves alternate, sessile, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, (3-)5-7 × (0.6-)1-1.5 mm, margin entire, apex subobtuse to acute or acuminate to long acuminate. Inflorescences corymbiform, compact, 0.8-1 cm in diam., few flowered. Flowers unisexual, (4 or)5-merous, longer than pedicel. Sepals red, oblong or lanceolate to triangular-oblong, 1.5-4 mm, apex obtuse or acute to acuminate. Petals red or yellow, oblong-ovate to subobovate or lanceolate to broadly oblong, apically constricted, 1.5-4 mm, apex subobtuse to obtuse. Stamens (8-)10, 3-4 cm. Follicles red when mature, ovoid to oblong-ovoid, apical beak reflexed, very short. Seeds brown, oblong, 1-1.5 mm, winged. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, NW India, Kashmir, Nepal, Sikkim].

Alpine regions, stony soils, rocks, rock crevices on slopes; 2200-5300 m.

Rhodiola coccinea là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Crassulaceae. Loài này được (Royle) Boriss. miêu tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1939.