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cream stonecrop, creamy stonecrop

Davidson's stonecrop

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

rhizomes, horizontal, much-branched, bearing rosettes.

(primary) repent, branched, bearing axillary rosettes.

Flowering shoots

erect, simple, (6–)10–28 cm;

leaf blades suborbiculate or obovate, base not spurred;

offsets not formed.

erect or ascending, simple, 0.5–4.5 cm;

leaf blades obovate, oblanceolate, or elliptic-ovate, base short-spurred;

offsets not formed.

Leaves

alternate, ascending to spreading, sessile to subsessile;

blade green, glaucous, not strongly pruinose, obovate or oblanceolate, subterete, 10–36 × 5–16 mm, base not spurred, not scarious, apex emarginate to retuse.

alternate or, rarely, nearly opposite, spreading, sessile;

blade dark green to yellow-green, speckled with red, not glaucous, obovate to oblanceolate, subterete, 4.8–9 × 2.2–4.2 mm, base spurred, not scarious, apex rounded or obtuse with minute mucronate appendage, (surfaces papillose).

Inflorescences

panicles, 10–120-flowered, 3–20-branched;

branches not recurved, dichotomously forked;

bracts similar to leaves, smaller.

cymes, 2–9-flowered, or flowers solitary, 1–3-branched;

branches not recurved, not forked;

bracts similar to leaves, smaller.

Pedicels

2–5 mm.

absent or to 1 mm.

Flowers

5-merous;

sepals (persistent, closely appressed to corolla tube), erect, connate basally, greenish, ovate, equal, 3.2–3.5 × 1–3 mm, apex subacute;

petals (persistent until fruiting), erect basally, divergent apically, connate basally, creamy white, yellowish white, or pale yellow, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate-oblong, cucullate, 5–9(–11.5) mm, apex abruptly pointed;

filaments pale yellow;

anthers yellow;

nectar scales white or yellow, subreniform.

5(–8)-merous;

sepals divergent or suberect, distinct, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or oblanceolate-elliptic, unequal, 4.4–7.2 × 1.2–1.7 mm, apex acute to obtuse, (sometimes papillose);

petals basal 1/3 erect, widely spreading distally, slightly connate basally, white streaked with pink, lanceolate, not carinate, 3.5–10 mm, apex acute with minute mucronate appendage;

filaments white, streaked with red;

anthers dark red;

nectar scales yellow, orange, or pink, stipitate-reniform or subquadrate.

Carpels

erect in fruit, distinct, brown, (strongly 5-veined).

erect in fruit, connate basally, pale brown.

2n

= 90.

= 32, ca. 128.

Sedum oregonense

Sedum niveum

Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Gravel, mats of Selaginella or moss on rocky slopes and ledges, crevices of cliffs Quartzite soil, northern slopes
Elevation 900-2200 m (3000-7200 ft) (1500-)1600-3000 m ((4900-)5200-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Sedum niveum occurs in the San Bernardino, Santa Rosa, and New York mountains in California and the Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Baja California; it is unusual in having tuberous, tufted roots rather than fibrous roots.

R. T. Clausen (1975) discussed issues relating to the identity and distribution of Sedum pinetorum, known only from the type collection, with uncertain locality but possibly Pine City, Mono County, California. He considered it conspecific with S. niveum because the fragments available suggested that it had tuberous roots; no similar plants have been found in the vicinity of Pine City or elsewhere in the Sierra Nevada.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 220. FNA vol. 8, p. 205.
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. lanceolatum, 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. 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. laxum, S. leibergii, S. lineare, S. mexicanum, S. moranii, S. nanifolium, S. nevii, 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
Synonyms Cotyledon oregonensis Cockerellia nivea, S. pinetorum
Name authority (S. Watson) M. Peck: Man. Higher Pl. Oregon, 361. (1941) Davidson: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 20: 53. (1921)
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