Sedum oreades

Sedum oreades (Decne.) Raym.-Hamet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 56: 571-572 571 1909. (Syn: Sedum jaeschkei Kurz; Sedum piloshanense Fröd.; Umbilicus oreades Decne.);

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Flora of Uttarakhand- Herb10 for Id- JM: Wild Herb captured on 13/8/10 during the trek from Ghangaria (around 11,000 ft.) to Hemkunt Sahib (around 14000 ft.).

Sedum sp. I suppose

Any chance of Saxifraga jacquemontiana

I can see five nearly free carpels in many flowers

I think it matches with details of Sedum oreades in Concise Flowers of Himalayas by Oleg Polunin & Adam Stainton. Pl. confirm.

Perhaps yes, although petals look shorter and broader. My query about 5 stamens was correct. FBI puts it under Cotyledon oreades and writes:

This species has habit altogether of Sedum, but it could not be put there because it has only 5 stamens; neither can it be put under Crassula because Crassula has always opposite leaves.

The upper congested leaves give impression of opposite leaves but lower leaves seen last photograph appear alternate. It is now known that the species may have 10 stamens or 5 reduced to staminodes.

Doesn’t match with other uploads of Sedum oreades by … & …

it is sedum oredes in my opinion too.

Thanks, …, But it doesn’t match with the illustration in FOP as per link below:

http://www.efloras.org/object_page.aspx?object_id=48405&flora_id=5

I do consider the images taken are of Sedum oreades. They match the images (2) in the ‘Supplement to Flowers of the Himalaya’ and photos in ‘Himalayan Plants Illustrated’.

Stewart found this to be common at high altitudes in Kashmir @ 3300-4200m.

‘Flowers of Himalaya’ say open slopes & rocks – a common alpine from Kashmir to SW China @ 3200-5500m.

They match the description, albeit brief in ‘Flowers of the Himalaya’ reasonably well, though I would not describe the leaves in the images as lanceolate.

I have a copy of ‘Flora of Mustang’ (2008) which has a more detailed description (one must always realise that ‘Flowers of the Himalaya’ is not a flora as such and only provides brief summaries of information) which gives leaves as “lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or narrowly oblong” which fits better. The authors of this work found the plant on gravelly slopes or unstable stream beds.

I have seen what I consider to be this plant below the Dhaulagiri ice-falls in Nepal (which comes within ‘Mustang’ district).

I attach 4 images of what I take to be this species from the Sinthan Pass on the border with Kishtwar during my last visit to Kashmir a few years back plus two shots of the scenery/habitat.

Attachments (6)

Request for ID 080809 Sinthan Pass 8 : 9 posts by 5 authors. Attachments (1)

Location- Top of the Sinthan Pass, Jammu & Kashmir. (Altitude 3785 mtr)
Date- 08th August 2009.

Most probably Saxifraga jacquemontiana

A reply from another thread:

probably not S. jacquemontiana

In the picture (attached) I have matked an area with red circle where I see 5 mature carpels which suggests it as a Sedum species (Crassulaceae). A higher resolution picture may clarify the structure.

I agree it is NOT S.jacquemontiana, which has conspicuously glandular-pilose leaf surfaces. The top right flower(?) seems to have five carpels — could the plant be in Crassulaceae?

It may be Sedum oreades

efi page on Sedum oreades

This is definitely nothing like Saxifraga jacquemontiana. It does seem likely to be within Sedum oreades – I shall shortly be posting images of what I take to be this species also from Sinthan Pass!

Fwd: Sedum oreades – what a muddle! : 2 posts by 2 authors.

The image on the FOI site has been misidentified – it is a Rhodiola – nothing like Sedum oreades see: http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Mountain%20Sedum.html

The first 4 google images for Sedum oreades on ‘The Plant List’ site are incorrect – the line drawing from Harvard is OK!

Two of the images are by a … from VOF.

No wonder people are confused. There is a specimen collected by Hooker in Sikkim on the Kew site but such low resolution as to being virtually of no use – and few can relate to shrivelled up Crassulaceae specimens.

Thanks for pointing out the mess. Indeed, the plant on FOI should be Rhodiola wallichiana. Sedum oreades should look like this:
http://www.plantphoto.cn/tu/1334578

I will make the correction on FOI.

All I can say with confidence is that the images were not of Sedum oreades.

Rhodiolas and Sedum are really troublesome. It will be a while before I am in a position to comment further about most other Rhodiolas but am working on it. Needs time, concentration and reflection – no purpose in rushing to make claims I cannot substantiate/ support and thus

contributing further to the difficulties.