(Wall. ex Hook. f. & Thomson) Fu
Description
Rhodiola bupleuroides is a perennial succulent herb of the high Himalaya and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, recorded by GBIF from China, Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar across roughly 956 occurrences, with additional cultivated or erroneous records from Europe. It is a plant of alpine and subalpine habitats, growing on rocky slopes, screes, cliff ledges, grassy turf and the margins of alpine scrub, generally from about 3000 to over 5000 m. The plant photographed at Baga-La-Phedi in west Nepal at about 4000 m, flowering in July at the height of the brief alpine summer, is typical of these cold, exposed, well-drained sites.
The plant arises from a stout, woody, branched caudex topped by a swollen rootstock, from which emerge several erect or ascending unbranched flowering stems. The leaves are alternate, sessile, flat and fleshy, elliptic to oblong or obovate, with an entire to obscurely toothed margin, recalling the foliage of Bupleurum as the epithet suggests. The species is dioecious, the small flowers crowded in a dense terminal corymbose cyme; they are usually four- to five-merous, the petals dark red, purplish or greenish-yellow, with the staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants. The fruit is a cluster of erect follicles that split to shed numerous minute seeds.
Rhodiola, segregated from Sedum, is a characteristic genus of cold high-mountain and arctic regions, and R. bupleuroides is one of the most widespread Himalayan-Tibetan species, displaying considerable variation in stature, leaf shape and flower colour. Several Rhodiola species are harvested for traditional medicine and adaptogenic compounds, and the genus as a whole is of pharmacological interest. The dioecious breeding system and dependence on cold alpine conditions make it a useful indicator of high-elevation environments under climatic change, and harvesting pressure affects some related taxa.
Author: (Wall. ex Hook. f. & Thomson) Fu · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Flora of China, Flora of Bhutan, Ohba revision of Himalayan Crassulaceae (Rhodiola/Sedum), Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal