Fröd.
Description
Sedum correptum is a rare stonecrop with a restricted distribution in the eastern Himalaya, known from Bhutan and adjacent areas of southwestern China (southern Tibet). GBIF records only nine occurrences, indicating the species is infrequently collected and poorly documented. It inhabits rocky ledges, cliff faces, stony ground, and mossy boulders in the upper temperate to subalpine zone, at elevations of approximately 3,000–4,000 m. The photograph from the Haar Valley in Bhutan at 3,500 m, taken in October, captures the species in fruit or late flowering in its characteristic rocky subalpine habitat.
The plant is a perennial succulent herb, 5–15 cm tall, with ascending to decumbent stems arising from a slender rootstock. Leaves are alternate, sessile, fleshy, oblong-elliptic to obovate, 8–15 mm long, entire, glabrous, often tinged reddish-purple especially under high light conditions. The inflorescence is a compact, terminal, corymbose cyme with few to several flowers. Flowers are pentamerous with lanceolate, fleshy sepals and yellow to pale yellow petals, 4–6 mm long, lanceolate to elliptic, acute. Stamens 10, in two whorls. Carpels five, erect, ripening into divergent follicles containing minute, oblong seeds.
Sedum correptum was described by the Swedish botanist Harald Fröderström, who monographed the genus extensively in the early twentieth century. The species belongs to the large and taxonomically difficult genus Sedum, which has undergone significant reclassification in recent decades as molecular phylogenetics have revealed polyphyly in its traditional circumscription. The placement of S. correptum within current infrageneric classifications requires further study. Its limited collection record and restricted range suggest it may be uncommon, though it likely remains undercollected due to the remoteness and inaccessibility of its subalpine habitats in Bhutan and Tibet.
Author: Fröd. · Sources: POWO (Kew), GBIF, Grierson & Long: Flora of Bhutan Vol. 1, Fu & Ohba: Crassulaceae in Flora of China Vol. 8