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broadleaf stonecrop

Oregon stonecrop

Habit Plants perennial, forming open mats, glabrous; stolons slender, 0.4–1.3 mm when dried. Plants perennial, glabrous.
Stems

extensively stoloniferous, with dense terminal rosettes.

rootstocks and decumbent branches with terminal rosettes.

Flowering shoots

erect; simple, 3–14 cm;

stem leaves alternate, spatulate-oblong or elliptic-oblong; widest at or below middle, different from rosette leaves.

erect; simple or branched, 8–13 cm;

stem leaves alternate; broadest above middle; like those of sterile shoots.

Leaves

rosette leaves spreading, usually nearly parallel to ground, usually forming flat rosettes, spatulate, narrowing to petioles, 7–19 × 4.5–10 mm, 5 × as wide as thick, green or pruinose and white, bases not spurred, not scarious, sometimes muricate or papillose near margins;

tips rounded or truncate;

surfaces usually glaucous.

alternate, spreading, spatulate or cuneate, 7–12 × 4.4–9 mm; thickest near tip, green or red, bases with short spurs;

tips broadly rounded or truncate;

surfaces glossy, not glaucous.

Inflorescences

cymes with ~30 flowers, 3-branched;

branches forked;

bracts oblong-spatulate or linear.

dense corymbs with 5–10 flowers, 3-branched;

branches dichotomously forked;

bracts spatulate or oblanceolate, 5–8 mm.

Flowers

5-parted;

sepals spreading to erect, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, oblong-ovate or obovate; ~2.5 × 1.5 mm, green to yellow-green;

tips acute or obtuse;

surface glaucous or pruinose;

petals strongly spreading above erect base, linear to oblanceolate, 4.5–9 mm, yellow;

tips acute;

filaments yellow;

anthers yellow.

erect, 5-parted;

sepals erect, fused basally; ovate-lanceolate; ~3.5 × 2 mm, green;

tips acuminate or acute;

petals erect or distally somewhat spreading, connate basally, narrowly lanceolate; ~1 cm, yellow;

tips attenuate to aristate;

filaments yellowish or greenish;

anthers yellow.

Fruits

erect until mature then spreading, fused basally, brown.

erect, fused basally, light brown or yellow.

2n

=24.

Sedum spathulifolium

Sedum oreganum

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Rocks, cliffs and road cuts. Flowering Apr–Aug. 0–2400 m. Casc, Col, CR, ECas, Est, Sisk, WV. CA, WA; north to British Columbia. Native.

Sedum spathulifolium is highly variable. If subspecies are recognized, most of our plants are S. spathulifolium ssp. spathulifolium. A coastal form with thick, white-pruinose leaves, short, stout stolons, dense inflorescences and thick, crowded stem leaves can be called S. s. ssp. pruinosum (if it is considered a strictly coastal entity). If it is considered to include strongly glaucous or pruinose plants of the Coast Range that are less dense in growth form, the name S. s. var. minus would be applied. Plants with thin, green leaves, numerous long, slender stolons that tend to grow upwards before growing out, paler flowers, and more spreading follicles can be called S. s. ssp. purdyi, a rare form known only from southern Josephine County, and Del Norte and Siskiyou counties in California.

Rock outcrops, cliffs, steep rocky slopes. Flowering Jun–Aug. 0–1500 m. Casc, CR, Est, WV. CA, WA; north to AK. Native.

Sedum oreganum is recognized by its plump, shiny, crowded leaves and its long, narrow, erect, yellow flowers. Sedum divergens has more nearly spherical, opposite leaves. Sedum oreganum is sometimes divided into coastal (S. o. ssp. oreganum) and Cascadian (S. o. ssp. tenue) subspecies. Because Sedum disperse poorly, a biologically significant difference may have developed between these disjunct populations. However, the reported morphological differences do not appear to differentiate the populations consistently.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 605
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 604
Barbara Wilson, Richard Brainerd, Nick Otting
Sibling taxa
S. acre, S. album, S. debile, S. divergens, S. lanceolatum, S. laxum, S. leibergii, S. moranii, S. oblanceolatum, S. oreganum, S. oregonense, S. radiatum, S. stenopetalum, S. thartii
S. acre, S. album, S. debile, S. divergens, S. lanceolatum, S. laxum, S. leibergii, S. moranii, S. oblanceolatum, S. oregonense, S. radiatum, S. spathulifolium, S. stenopetalum, S. thartii
Synonyms Sedum spathulifolium ssp. pruinosum, Sedum spathulifolium ssp. purdyi, Sedum spathulifolium ssp. spathulifolium, Sedum spathulifolium var. minus, Sedum spathulifolium var. pruinosum, Sedum spathulifolium var. spathulifolium Gormania oregana, Sedum oreganum var. oreganum, Sedum oreganum var. tenue
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