ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 73 



SECTION II.— PSEUDORHODIOLA. 



Section Pseudorhodiola Diels in Engler's Boi. Jahrb., 29, 360, 

 1901. 



Perennial. Flowers dioecious, 4-parted, and otherwise as frequent 

 in Rhodiola. Habit, vegetative parts and carpels as in the following 

 section, Telephium. Hardy Chinese plants. 



Founded recently by Diels for the reception of a few interesting 

 plants intermediate between the preceding and succeeding sections. 

 Four species have been described — yunnanense, Henryi, valerianoides, 

 and sinicum ; R. Hamet reduces the second and third to varieties 

 of the first, and adds a third variety, Forresti. The only form in 

 cultivation is yunnanense Franchet var. valerianoides Hamet. 



22. Sedum yunnanense Franch. var. valerianoides 



Hamet (figs. 32-34). 



S. yunnanense Franchet, Journ. de Bot., 1896, 286, var. valerianoides 

 Hamet in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinh., 5, 117. 



Synonym. — S. valerianoides Diels, in Engler's Bot. Jahrb., 29, 360, 1900. 



S. yunnanense is a polymorphic species, with several varieties 

 differing considerably in shape of leaf and inflorescence, &c. Var. 

 valerianoides appears to be the only one in cultivation. It displays 

 excellently the combination of the characters of the sections Telephium 

 and Rhodiola, which form the feature of section Pseudorhodiola. It 

 has the tall stem with broad ternate leaves of some of the Eastern 

 Telephium species, and the small dioecious 4-parted flowers of Rhodiola. 

 Though interesting botanically, the plant has no horticultural value, 

 the flowers being very small and green. 



Description. — A tall, glabrous herbaceous perennial. Rhizome thick, 

 knotted, apparently not aerial. Stems solitary or a few together, 1-3 feet high, 

 erect, smooth, round, unbranched, green or red, comparatively slender. Leaves 

 ternate (occasionally in whorls of 4, opposite or alternate), sessile, flat, green, not 

 very fleshy, ovate, acute, more or less serrate, slightly clasping, about ij inch 

 long by J mch broad. Inflorescence thyrsoid, 2-6 inches long by 1-3 inches broad, 

 branches mostly in threes, many times divided. Male Flowers very numerous, 

 very small, usually yellowish green, 4-parted ; buds obovate, as broad as long ; 

 sepals lanceolate, blunt, separate nearly to the base ; petals spathulate, boat- 

 shaped, sharply deflexed, twice the sepals ; stamens shorter than the petals, 

 spreading, anthers buff or reddish ; scales bright yellow ; carpels green, very 

 small. Female flower : — 4-partite ; sepals and petals similar, linear or 

 subulate, green or purplish, blunt ; stamens absent ; scales bright yellow or 

 red ; carpels diverging, twice the sepals and petals, green or purplish, stigmas 

 yellowish. Hermaphrodite flower : — 4-partite ; sepals lanceolate, blunt, 

 green, twice those of the male, divided nearly to the base ; petals as in male, 

 but twice as large and edged purple ; stamens twice as large as in male, filaments 

 dark purple, anthers reddish ; carpels as in female, but J longer ; parts often 

 in fives, usually in fours. 



Flowers July. 



Habitat. — Yunnan, evidently common. 



