Species
+

Phedimus spurius (M.Bieb.) 't Hart

Caucasian stonecrop, Caucasian stonecrop, Caucasian-stonecrop, false stonecrop

Climate known 56 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Phedimus spurius, formerly Sedum spurium, the Caucasian stonecrop or two-row stonecrop, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is a low-growing, spreading succulent with stems that creep along the ground and root as they grow.

Text from Wikipedia, “Phedimus spurius”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Phedimus

Phedimus is a genus of the succulent family Crassulaceae, with about 18 species, distributed in eastern Europe and Asia. The genus is described with two subgenera, but one of these is also recognized as a separate genus, Aizopsis. Phedimus kamtschaticus is widely grown as an ornamental ground cover and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Text from Wikipedia, “Phedimus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Crassulaceae
Described by
(M.Bieb.) 't Hart
Native to
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran +1
Wild records
53 in range· 18 open

At a glance

Warmest month
19°C
Aug, mean day; nights 10 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1223mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 182 mm (CHELSA)
Light
11–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Crassulaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1223 mm a year, wettest June at 182 mm, driest January at 45 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -18.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Sedum denticulatum Donn ex DC.; Sedum denticulatum Donn ex Haw.; Sedum spurium var. coccineum.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Crassulaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (April to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (939 mm of 1223 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 10.2 °C against a yearly mean of 4.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1223 mm a year, wettest June at 182 mm, driest January at 45 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1223 mm a year at the habitat, 939 mm of it April to October. Wettest month June at 182 mm, driest January at 45 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 732 mm to 2710 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -18.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -18.7 °C, the absolute minimum -28.0 °C, about 170 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -11.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -16.2 °C to -6.8 °C), warmest day 19.2 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -18.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -2 °C in Jan to 19 °C in Aug; mean night from -12 °C in Jan to 10 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1223 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 43 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -28.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°frost29.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-28.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 11–37RH 58–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 43 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-2 / -9–2-1 / -9–22 / -5–79 / 0–1313 / 5–1817 / 10–2119 / 13–2419 / 13–2416 / 10–1911 / 4–145 / -3–80 / -7–3
Night °C-12 / -16–-7-11 / -16–-7-7 / -12–-3-2 / -7–23 / -4–77 / 1–1110 / 5–1410 / 5–146 / 0–101 / -5–4-5 / -11–-2-9 / -15–-5
Rain mm45 / 21–20846 / 22–17172 / 37–205113 / 62–212154 / 101–233182 / 109–255149 / 85–225142 / 70–209111 / 57–21788 / 48–25071 / 35–28250 / 25–235
DLI13 / 10–1619 / 16–2426 / 23–3131 / 28–3635 / 33–3937 / 35–3937 / 36–3934 / 32–3626 / 24–3019 / 17–2313 / 11–1711 / 8–14
RH %59 / 56–6359 / 57–6260 / 58–6261 / 59–6362 / 61–6463 / 60–6563 / 60–6662 / 59–6661 / 58–6461 / 58–6458 / 56–6358 / 56–63

Each figure is the median across the 43 grid cells holding the 52 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 920:4428 (43.975, 41.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -28.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -18.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 43 distinct grid cells holding the 52 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 920:4428 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.00_41.250, lapse-corrected +297 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1407 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNorth Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, Ukraine, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec, Colorado, Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont
Kew's description“succulent perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker43.516, 42.166 · in the densest population, 27 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 53 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 18 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 122 km away. 1764 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 53 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Phedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spuriusPhedimus spurius

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Михаил Орлов, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Ashley N, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Наталья Пикалова, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Bobo-X, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Phedimus spurius, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Can microbial inoculants boost soil food webs and vegetation development on newly constructed extensive green roofs?
Heather Rumble, Paul Finch, Alan C. Gange (2022) · Urban forestry & urban greening
Evaluation of Different Combinations of Ornamental Perennials for Sustainable Management in Urban Greening
Enrico Pomatto, Federica Larcher, Matteo Caser, Walter Gaino (2023) · Plants
NEW FINDINGS OF ALIEN PLANT ERGAZIOPHYTES IN THE LEFT BANK FOREST-STEPPE OF UKRAINE
D. A. Davydov (2021) · Scientific Bulletin of Natural Sciences (Biological Sciences)
Pollinator visits increase with bloom amount but decline with building height on extensive green roofs
Shannon M. Underwood, Nicholas Sookhan, Keng‐Lou James Hung, J. Scott MacIvor (2025) · Insect Conservation and Diversity
Alien vascular plant species new for the Republic of Karelia
Aleksey Kravchenko (2024) · БОТАНИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ
Schnelle Ausbreitung des invasiven Neophyten Phedimus stoloniferus in der Schweiz
Hans‐Peter Rusterholz, D. Goffard, C. Stutz, Olivier Huguenin‐Elie (2013) · BAUHINIA – Zeitschrift der Basler Botanischen Gesellschaft
Trait-environment relationships over short taxonomic and abiotic gradients on Sedum/moss roofs
Amy Heim, Maria Kunle, Pierre-Luc Chagnon, Susanna Lehvävirta (2025) · Urban forestry & urban greening
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Phedimus 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 118 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.