Flora of North America species comparison

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Dudleya attenuata

Dudleya cespitosa

Orcutt's dudleya, tapertip liveforever

coast dudleya, sand-lettuce
Caudices

branched apically loosely or cespitosely, to 30 × 1–4 cm, axillary branches absent.
Leaves

rosettes 3–150+, in clumps, 15–30(–50)-leaved, 5–20(–30) cm diam.;

blade green, oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 5–20 × 0.5–4 cm, 3–8 mm thick, base 0.5–4 cm wide, apex acute to subacuminate, surfaces not farinose, sometimes glaucous.
Inflorescences

cyme ca. 3-branched, mostly obpyramidal;

branches not twisted (flowers on topside), simple or 1–2 times bifurcate, (3–6 cm diam.);

cincinni 3–5, 3–14-flowered, circinate, 3–11 cm;

floral shoots 10–40 × 0.4–1.2 cm;

leaves 12–25, spreading to ascending, triangular-ovate to lanceolate, 10–60 × 10–30 mm, apex acute.
Pedicels

erect, not bent in fruit, mostly 1–5 mm.
Flowers

calyx 4–6 × 4–8 mm;

petals connate 1.5–2.5 mm, mostly bright yellow to red, 8–16 × 2.5–5 mm, apex acute, tips erect;

pistils connivent, erect.
California

Unripe

follicles erect.
2n

= 68, 101, 136.

Dudleya attenuata

Dudleya cespitosa
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Cliffs and rocky slopes near coast
Elevation 0-600 m (0-2000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora).

Subspecies australis Moran occurs in Baja California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

As circumscribed here, Dudleya cespitosa is a highly variable polyploid complex delimited from neighboring species and not easily divisible on the basis of morphology, distribution, and chromosome number into practical subspecific units.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 176. FNA vol. 8, p. 190.
Parent taxa Crassulaceae > Dudleya > subg. Stylophyllum Crassulaceae > Dudleya > subg. Dudleya
Sibling taxa
D. abramsii, D. arizonica, D. blochmaniae, D. brevifolia, D. candelabrum, D. cespitosa, D. cymosa, D. densiflora, D. edulis, D. farinosa, D. gnoma, D. greenei, D. lanceolata, D. multicaulis, D. nesiotica, D. palmeri, D. parva, D. pulverulenta, D. saxosa, D. stolonifera, D. traskiae, D. variegata, D. verityi, D. virens, D. viscida
D. abramsii, D. arizonica, D. attenuata, D. blochmaniae, D. brevifolia, D. candelabrum, D. cymosa, D. densiflora, D. edulis, D. farinosa, D. gnoma, D. greenei, D. lanceolata, D. multicaulis, D. nesiotica, D. palmeri, D. parva, D. pulverulenta, D. saxosa, D. stolonifera, D. traskiae, D. variegata, D. verityi, D. virens, D. viscida
Subordinate taxa
D. attenuata subsp. attenuata
Synonyms Cotyledon attenuata, Stylophyllum attenuatum Cotyledon cespitosa
Name authority (S. Watson) Moran: Desert Pl. Life 14: 191. (1943) (Haworth) Britton & Rose: New N. Amer. Crassul., 27. 1903 (as caespitosa) ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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