Dudleya blochmaniae
Dudleya subg. Hasseanthus
Blochman's dudleya, Blochman's liveforever
underground, tuberous corms, mostly unbranched distally, ovoid to oblong, sometimes irregular.
3–50;
petiole 0.3–1.5 mm wide, to 1/3 as wide as blade;
blade green, oblanceolate or clavate-oblanceolate, 1–6 cm × 2–8 mm, 1–4 mm thick, base 1–4 mm wide, apex subacute to rounded, surfaces sometimes ± glaucous.
mostly withering by anthesis;
petiole often strongly narrowed;
blade terete or laminar, turgid except at very thin, broadened base.
cincinni 3–10-flowered, 1–6 cm;
floral shoots 3–12 cm × 0.5–2 mm;
leaves 8–25, ascending, blade triangular-ovate to -lanceolate, 0.5–2.5 cm × 3–10 mm, 2–4 mm thick, apex rounded to subacute or obtuse.
absent or erect, to 3 mm.
with musky, sweet odor;
petals connate to 1 mm, widely spreading from near middle, white, ± yellowish green at base, red-lineolate on keel, drying purplish, elliptic, 6–10[–12] × 2–3.5[–5] mm, apex acute, corolla 8–20 mm diam.;
pistils separate, ascending;
ovary 3–4.5 mm;
styles 1–1.5 mm.
petals ascending to spreading from near middle, corolla widely open;
pistils erect to ascending or mostly widely spreading, separated in flower, somewhat gibbous in fruit.
subglobose to oblong, 0.7–3.5 cm × 5–20 mm.
widespreading, with adaxial margins nearly horizontal.
branches commonly 2-3, simple;
cincinni not or scarcely circinate.
Dudleya blochmaniae
Dudleya subg. Hasseanthus
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Species 6 (5 in the flora).
The underground corms of subg. Hasseanthus, and the leaves that wither in spring, seem clear adaptations to drought. Also, the plants are reduced in size and in lifespan. M. Dodero (1996) found that in the greenhouse the smaller ones could flower in five months from seed. From morphological and allozyme data, he concluded that the group is monophyletic, seeming close to Dudleya attenuata, the species of subg. Stylophyllum with the most-reduced leaves and inflorescence. He suggested that by paedomorphosis the underground caudex (“corm”) probably evolved from the tuberous caudex he noted in Dudleya seedlings, which furthermore tend to be drought-deciduous, and that the leaves became smaller, with narrower and thinner petioles, as in the series from D. multicaulis through D. variegata and D. blochmaniae to D. brevifolia. Thus he found the adult leaves of D. brevifolia like the first seedling leaves of these other species.
Although in subg. Dudleya and Stylophyllum the leaves rarely become detached and take root, M. Dodero (1996) found that in subg. Hasseanthus they more often do. The leaves readily root at the base and quickly form new plants, most easily in those species with narrower leaf bases. Where wild plants were browsed by rabbits and rodents, he sometimes found detached leaves rooting. In the greenhouse, with species having smaller leaves, he even saw new rosettes formed in January and flowering by April.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Rosette leaves 3-12, blade oblanceolate, 1-4(-6) cm; inflorescence leaves not or slightly glaucous. | subsp. blochmaniae |
1. Rosette leaves 15-30(-50), blade clavate-oblanceolate, 1-3.5 cm; inflorescence leaves gray-glaucous. | subsp. insularis |
1. Rosette leaf blades linear, 5–15 cm, base scarcely narrowed into petiole, apex narrowly acute; petals bright yellow (fading pale yellow), often red-lineolate on keel, connate 1–2 mm | D. multicaulis |
1. Rosette leaf blades linear-oblanceolate or oblanceolate, clavate-oblanceolate to spatulate, or ovate to orbiculate or reniform, 0.2–7 cm, base narrowed to petiole to 1/3 as wide as blade, apex acute or subacute to rounded or obtuse; petals white or yellow, connate 0.5–2 mm. | → 2 |
2. Petals bright yellow (fading whitish); flowers mostly odorless | D. variegata |
2. Petals white; flowers with musky sweet odor. | → 3 |
3. Petals erect or spreading, 7–14 × 3.5–5.5 mm; rosette leaf blades 3–15(–25) mm wide, base 4–12 mm wide | D. nesiotica |
3. Petals spreading from near middle, 5–10 × 2–3.5 mm; rosette leaf blades 2–8 mm wide, base 1–4 mm wide. | → 4 |
4. Corms subglobose to oblong, 0.7–3.5 cm × 5–20 mm; rosette leaf blades oblanceolate or clavate-oblanceolate; inflorescence shoot leaf blades 0.5–2.5 cm × 3–10 mm | D. blochmaniae |
4. Corms elongate, 1.5–3.5 cm × 1–6 mm; rosette leaf blades ovate to orbiculate or reniform; inflorescence shoot leaf blades 0.2–1 cm × 2.5–8 mm | D. brevifolia |
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