Sedum pulchellum |
Sedum debile |
|
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widow's cross |
opposite stonecrop, orpine stonecrop, weak-stem stonecrop |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial (by formation of side shoots), rarely biennial, multi-stemmed from base, glabrous. | Herbs, perennial, tufted, glabrous. |
Stems | ascending, simple or branched, sometimes bearing rosettes. |
decumbent, branched, bearing erect rosettes. |
Flowering shoots | erect, simple, 6–23 cm; leaf blades linear, base with 2 sagittate spurs (unique in this species); offsets not formed. |
erect, decumbent, or ascending, simple, 3–12 cm; leaf blades ovate-elliptic, base not spurred; offsets not formed. |
Leaves | alternate, spreading, sessile; blade pale yellow-green, not glaucous, linear to oblanceolate or spatulate, subterete, 5–32 × 1.5–5 mm, base sagittately short-spurred, not scarious, apex obtuse to rounded, (surfaces papillose in rosette). |
opposite and decussate (rarely alternate), ascending, sessile; blade pale green, speckled with pink, sometimes pink or red, glaucous, usually elliptic, oblanceolate, or obovate, sometimes ovate-elliptic, subterete, ± globular, 4.2–7.2 × 2.8–4.3 mm, base not spurred, (clasping), not scarious, apex widely rounded or sometimes weakly emarginate, (surfaces minutely papillose). |
Inflorescences | cymes, 10–40-flowered, 3-branched; branches secund or recurved, not forked; bracts absent or similar to leaves, smaller. |
cymes, 2–7-flowered, 2-branched; branches not recurved, forked; bracts similar to leaves, smaller. |
Pedicels | to 1 mm. |
to 1.2 mm. |
Flowers | 4(–7)-merous; sepals erect, distinct, light green, linear-lanceolate, unequal, 1.3–5.8 × 0.5–1.5 mm, apex acute or obtuse; petals erect or subdivergent, distinct, white to purple, narrowly linear-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, carinate and slightly channeled basally, 4–10 mm, apex acute or obtuse; filaments white or pinkish; anthers red or purple; nectar scales white, pinkish white, or yellow, square. |
5-merous; sepals erect, connate basally, pale green, glaucous, lanceolate, equal, 2–4.2 × 1.3–2 mm, apex obtuse, (papillose); petals basally erect, distally spreading, connate basally, yellow, elliptic-lanceolate, slightly carinate, 6–9 mm, apex obtuse with mucronate appendage; filaments yellow; anthers yellow, (sometimes compressed and winged); nectar scales yellow, orange-red, or salmon-pink, reniform to square. |
Carpels | spreading in fruit, distinct, light brown. |
erect or ascending in fruit, connate basally, straw colored with purple stripes. |
2n | = 22, ca. 42. |
= 14–18. |
Sedum pulchellum |
Sedum debile |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring–early summer. | Flowering summer. |
Habitat | Areas of flat rocks, especially openings in cedar glades, ledges of cliffs, and bluffs, in shallow soil or in living mats of moss on rocks, often on limestone, sandstone, and chert | Open, rocky places |
Elevation | 90-500 m (300-1600 ft) | 1500-3500 m (4900-11500 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; GA; IL; KS; KY; MO; MS; OH; OK; TN; TX
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ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY
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Discussion | Sedum pulchellum is found in eastern North America from the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province in northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee, westward through the southern Cumberland Plateau in northern Alabama and southeastern Tennessee, across the interior low plateaus of southern Illinois and central Kentucky and Tennessee, the till plains of Missouri, the Ozark plateaus of Arkansas and Missouri, and the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma, to the Osage Plains of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The axillary, almost globular, rosettes of Sedum debile are the primary mode of propagation in this species (R. T. Clausen 1975). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 204. | FNA vol. 8, p. 211. |
Parent taxa | Crassulaceae > Sedum | Crassulaceae > Sedum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chetyson pulchellum, Chetyson vigilimontis, S. vigilimontis | Gormania debilis |
Name authority | Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 277. (1803) | S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 102. (1871) |
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