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rose-flower stonecrop

Photo is of parent taxon

rose flower stonecrop

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

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

Flowering shoots

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

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

offsets not formed.

15–26(–40) cm;

leaf blades glaucous, spatulate to oblanceolate, base obtuse, not clasping stem.

Leaves

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.

blades glaucous, spatulate or oblanceolate, 10–50 × 9–17 mm, apex truncate to obtuse.

Inflorescences

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

branches not recurved, 2-forked;

bracts similar to leaves, smaller.

Pedicels

0.6–6.3 mm.

Flowers

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.

sepals 3.5–5.1 mm, apex acute;

petals pink or white, 9–11 mm;

anthers red to reddish purple.

Carpels

erect in fruit, distinct, brown.

2n

= 30.

Sedum laxum

Sedum laxum var. laxum

Phenology Flowering spring-mid summer.
Habitat Serpentine bluffs
Elevation 30-1400 m (100-4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Variety laxum occurs in the drainage of the Smith River.

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

Key
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. 218. FNA vol. 8, p. 218.
Parent taxa Crassulaceae > Sedum Crassulaceae > Sedum > Sedum laxum
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. 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
S. laxum var. eastwoodiae, S. laxum var. flavidum, S. laxum var. heckneri, S. laxum var. latifolium
Subordinate taxa
S. laxum var. eastwoodiae, S. laxum var. flavidum, S. laxum var. heckneri, S. laxum var. latifolium, S. laxum var. laxum
Synonyms Gormania laxa S. laxum subsp. perplexum
Name authority (Britton) A. Berger: in H. G. A. Engler et al., Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 18a: 451. (1930) unknown
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