Sedum acre
Sedum rupicola
goldmoss stonecrop, moss stonecrop, mossy stonecrop, orpin acre, orpin âcre, wall-pepper
curved-leaf stonecrop, lance-leaf stonecrop
trailing (nonflowering shoots ascending at tip), laxly branched, not bearing rosettes.
prostrate, becoming erect, branched, bearing rosettes in clusters and secondary shoots in leaf axils.
erect, usually simple, 5–10(–15) cm;
leaf blades triangular-ovate, base short-spurred;
offsets not formed.
erect, simple or branched, ca. 18 cm;
leaf blades elliptic to suborbiculate or elliptic-linear, base not spurred;
offsets not formed.
(usually deciduous, if persistent, then blade white, soft, papery), alternate, (densely imbricate), spreading, sessile;
blade yellow-green, not glaucous, triangular-ovate, terete to semiterete (elliptic in cross section), (2–)5(–8) × 1–4 mm, base obtusely short-spurred, not scarious, apex obtuse.
alternate, (easily detaching and sometimes forming new plants), divergent, slightly upturned, sessile;
blade blue-green, purplish, or green, sometimes glaucous, ovate, elliptic-ovate, or lanceolate, subterete, 3.2–6.2 × 1.9–2.9 mm, base not spurred, not scarious, apex obtuse or apparently acute.
cymes, 2–12-flowered or flowers solitary, monochasially (1–)2(–3)-branched;
branches not recurved, rarely forked;
bracts similar to leaves, smaller.
cymes, 3–22-flowered, 3-branched;
branches not or slightly recurved, not forked;
bracts narrowly elliptic to linear.
absent or to 1 mm.
absent or 3–5 mm.
5-merous;
sepals erect to spreading, distinct basally, green, oblong-ovate, unequal, 2–3 × 1.3–2.3, mm, apex obtuse;
petals spreading, distinct, bright yellow, oblong-ovate to lanceolate, not carinate, 5–9 mm, apex acute to acuminate;
filaments yellow;
anthers yellow, (oblong);
nectar scales yellowish green, square.
5-merous;
sepals erect, slightly connate basally, green, lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, equal, ca. 3 × 1.5 mm, apex obtuse or subacute;
petals widely spreading from short, erect base, distinct, deep yellow, elliptic-lanceolate or lanceolate, slightly cucullate, 6.7–8.8 mm, apex obtuse or, rarely, acute with minute mucronate appendage;
filaments yellow;
anthers yellow;
nectar scales yellow, subquadrate.
stellately patent in fruit, distinct, yellowish.
erect in fruit, connate basally, brown.
= 40, 60, 80, 100, 120.
= 32, 36.
Sedum acre
Sedum rupicola
Sedum acre is native in Greenland. It is naturalized in North America across the northern United States and southern Canada from Quebec to North Carolina in the east and from British Columbia to Oregon in the west. Sedum elrodii was found near Somers in Flathead County, Montana. It is known only from a fragmental type specimen. R. T. Clausen (1975) considered it a naturalized form of S. acre with ovate leaf blades, basally connate petals, and procumbent and branched stems from a fleshy rootstock.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The leaves of Sedum rupicola detach very easily and the fallen ones sprout and produce plantlets from their bases. R. T. Clausen (1975) considered S. rupicola to be most closely related to S. lanceolatum. He recognized it as a species because, although it sometimes grows sympatrically with S. lanceolatum, the two do not hybridize, and because S. rupicola flowers a week earlier and grows in soils of higher pH than does S. lanceolatum. The general morphological differences are: in S. rupicolum leaves of sterile shoots are ovate and detach easily, sepals have obtuse apices, petals have minutely mucronate tips (0.1 mm), and nectaries are deep yellow; in S. lanceolatum leaves of sterile shoots are linear-lanceolate and do not detach easily, sepals have acute apices, petal apices are long-acuminate (0.8 mm), and nectaries are pale yellow.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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