柴胡红景天 chai hu hong jing tian

Sedum atsaense Fröderström, Ark. Bot. 30A(9): 4. 1943.

Caudex mostly simple, prostrate; persistent old flowering stems absent. Winter bud 8-10 mm, apex acute. Caudex leaves scalelike, triangular-ovate, 6-9 mm, apex subacute. Sterile stems apically densely leafy. Flowering stems 1 or 2, pale, to 6 cm, transversely wrinkled when dried, mostly leafless. Stem leaves alternate, sessile, oblanceolate, much reduced except immediately below inflorescences, 6-8 mm, base slightly narrowed, apex subobtuse. Inflorescences corymbiform-umbellate, to 4 × 4 cm; bracts leaflike, 4-10 mm. Flowers unisexual, 4-merous; pedicel 2-4 mm. Sepals broadly lanceolate, ca. 4 mm, apex obtuse. Petals reddish, drying pale, broadly oblanceolate, ca. 4.5 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 8, slightly shorter than or equaling petals. Nectar scales rectangular, apex emarginate. Carpels ovoid; ca. 4 mm. Styles short. Follicles not seen. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Scree slopes; 4500-4900 m. Xizang [India].

The available herbarium material suggests that this is a typical plant of loose scree slopes, on which loose stones cover the caudex and flowering stems (except the inflorescences) and pull them downhill.