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lance-leaf stonecrop, spear-leaf stonecrop

rose-flower stonecrop

Habit Herbs, perennial, tufted, glabrous. Herbs, perennial, cespitose or not, glabrous.
Stems

rootstocks, decumbent and ascending, branched, (sometimes papillose), bearing terminal rosettes and above ground shoots.

root-stocks, ascending, much-branched, bearing rosettes.

Flowering shoots

erect, simple or branched, 3–18 cm;

leaf blades elliptic-lanceolate, base short-spurred;

offsets not formed.

erect or decumbent, simple or branched, 4–30(–40) cm;

leaf blades oblanceolate, spatulate, obovate, or suborbiculate, base not spurred;

offsets not formed.

Leaves

(not easily detached), alternate, spreading-erect to erect or ascending, sessile;

blade dull gray-green or bluish green, green, or reddish green, often glaucous, lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or elliptic-ovate, subterete, 4.2–13 × 1.5–3.5 mm, base very short-spurred, base of withered blade at times becoming scarious, apex obtuse or obtusely apiculate, (surfaces papillose).

alternate, erect to spreading, sessile;

blade green, glaucous or not, not pruinose, oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, subterete or somewhat flattened, 10–50 × (4.5–)6–33 mm, base not spurred, not scarious, apex truncate to rounded or obtuse, emarginate or barely notched.

Inflorescences

cymes, 5–25-flowered, (1–)3(–6)-branched;

branches ascending, spreading to erect, or recurved, forked;

bracts similar to leaves.

elongate, paniculate cymes, 12–80-flowered, monochasially 3+-branched;

branches not recurved, 2-forked;

bracts similar to leaves, smaller.

Pedicels

absent or to 3 mm.

0.6–6.3 mm.

Flowers

5-merous;

sepals erect, connate basally, pale green to yellow-green, ovate or lanceolate, equal, 2–5 × 1–2 mm, apex acute or, rarely, obtuse, (often papillose);

petals widely spreading from suberect base, distinct, canary to golden yellow, lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, canaliculate, 6–9.2 mm, apex acute to acuminate with minute mucronate appendage;

filaments yellow;

anthers yellow, sometimes suffused with red;

nectar scales deep yellow to yellow-green, obovately square.

5-merous;

sepals erect, (closely appressed to corolla tube), slightly connate basally, pale green, ovate or lanceolate, equal, (2–)2.6–5.1 × 2 mm, apex acute or subacute, (rarely obtuse in var. flavidum);

petals basally erect, divergent in distal 1/2, connate basally, pink, pinkish white, or white to yellowish white, lanceolate-oblong, oblanceolate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, not carinate, 4–11 mm, apex obtuse, shortly mucronate or aristate;

filaments white, greenish white, or pink;

anthers red, reddish purple, red-brown, or yellow;

nectar scales white, yellow, or pink, reniform or transversely oblong.

Carpels

erect in fruit, basally connate, brown.

erect in fruit, distinct, brown.

2n

= 16.

Sedum lanceolatum

Sedum laxum

Distribution
from FNA
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; SK; YT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Sedum lanceolatum forms offsets in the axils of rosette leaves. The mature carpels have divergent beaks and narrow lips along the adaxial suture.

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

Varieties 5 (5 in the flora).

Sedum laxum is unusual in forming offsets in axils of rosette leaves rather than on a rootstock or creeping stem.

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

Key
1. Rosette leaf blades 4.2-9 × 1.5-2.5 mm.
var. lanceolatum
1. Rosette leaf blades 8-13 × 3-3.5 mm.
var. nesioticum
1. Flowering shoot leaf bases clasping stems.
var. heckneri
1. Flowering shoot leaf bases not clasping stems
→ 2
2. Petals pale yellow or white with pink mid- veins; sepal apices obtuse.
var. flavidum
2. Petals pink or white; sepal apices acute
→ 3
3. Flowering shoot leaf blades suborbiculate.
var. eastwoodiae
3. Flowering shoot leaf blades spatulate to oblanceolate
→ 4
4. Leaf blades 9-17 mm wide
var. laxum
4. Leaf blades 17-33 mm wide.
var. latifolium
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 206. FNA vol. 8, p. 218.
Parent taxa Crassulaceae > Sedum Crassulaceae > Sedum
Sibling taxa
S. acre, S. albomarginatum, S. album, S. annuum, S. borschii, S. cockerellii, S. debile, S. divergens, S. glaucophyllum, S. havardii, S. hispanicum, S. laxum, S. leibergii, S. lineare, S. mexicanum, S. moranii, S. nanifolium, S. nevii, S. niveum, S. nuttallii, S. oblanceolatum, S. obtusatum, S. ochroleucum, S. oreganum, S. oregonense, S. praealtum, S. pulchellum, S. pusillum, S. radiatum, S. robertsianum, S. rupestre, S. rupicola, S. sarmentosum, S. sexangulare, S. spathulifolium, S. stelliforme, S. stenopetalum, S. ternatum, S. villosum, S. wrightii
S. acre, S. albomarginatum, S. album, S. annuum, S. borschii, S. cockerellii, S. debile, S. divergens, S. glaucophyllum, S. havardii, S. hispanicum, S. lanceolatum, S. leibergii, S. lineare, S. mexicanum, S. moranii, S. nanifolium, S. nevii, S. niveum, S. nuttallii, S. oblanceolatum, S. obtusatum, S. ochroleucum, S. oreganum, S. oregonense, S. praealtum, S. pulchellum, S. pusillum, S. radiatum, S. robertsianum, S. rupestre, S. rupicola, S. sarmentosum, S. sexangulare, S. spathulifolium, S. stelliforme, S. stenopetalum, S. ternatum, S. villosum, S. wrightii
Subordinate taxa
S. lanceolatum var. lanceolatum, S. lanceolatum var. nesioticum
S. laxum var. eastwoodiae, S. laxum var. flavidum, S. laxum var. heckneri, S. laxum var. latifolium, S. laxum var. laxum
Synonyms Gormania laxa
Name authority Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 205. (1827) (Britton) A. Berger: in H. G. A. Engler et al., Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 18a: 451. (1930)
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