Needle Stonecrop

This species is used medicinally.

Herbs perennial. Sterile stems present. Flowering stems erect, 10-20 cm. Leaves 3(or 4)-verticillate, sessile, linear, 2-2.5 × ca. 0.2 cm, base shortly spurred, apex subacute. Cyme 2- or 3-branched, lax, 4-8 cm in diam.; branches 2-forked. Flowers sessile (but dichasial central flower shortly pedicellate), unequally 5-merous. Sepals linear-lanceolate, unequal, 1.5-7 mm, base spurless or sometimes spurred, apex obtuse. Petals yellow, lanceolate, 4-6 mm, base slightly narrowed, apex acute. Stamens 10, shorter than petals. Nectar scales broadly cuneate to subquadrangular, ca. 0.5 × 0.5-0.6 mm. Follicles divergent, 4-5 mm, apex shortly beaked. Seeds small. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Jul.

Low mountains, rocks on grassy slopes, plains. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].

Sedum anhuiense S. H. Fu & X. W. Wang.

Flowering of Sedum lineare, 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition, Taiwan.

Sedum lineare also known as carpet sedum, needle stonecrop or sea urchin, is a sedum originating in East Asia.

It has been proposed as an ideal plant for the "greening" of flat-roofed buildings in Shanghai, China, due to factors such as its ability to tolerate cold and drought, little need for soil and its roots' lack of penetrating ability,