Sedum spathulifolium |
Sedum niveum |
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broad-leaf stonecrop, Pacific stonecrop, spatula-leaf stonecrop |
Davidson's stonecrop |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, mat-forming, glabrous. | Herbs, perennial, cespitose, glabrous. | ||||
Stems | rhizomatous, procumbent or creeping, much-branched, bearing terminal rosettes. |
(primary) repent, branched, bearing axillary rosettes. |
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Flowering shoots | erect, simple, 3–14 cm; leaf blades spatulate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, 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. |
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Leaves | alternate, spreading, petiolate; blade green, often glaucous or pruinose, spatulate, terete to laminar, 7–19 × 4.5–10 mm, base not spurred, not scarious, apex rounded or truncate, submucronate, (surfaces papillose marginally). |
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). |
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Inflorescences | cymes, ca. 30-flowered, ca. 3-branched; branches not recurved, forked; bracts oblong-spatulate or linear, ca. 3 cm, base not spurred. |
cymes, 2–9-flowered, or flowers solitary, 1–3-branched; branches not recurved, not forked; bracts similar to leaves, smaller. |
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Pedicels | 2–8 mm. |
absent or to 1 mm. |
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Flowers | 5-merous; sepals spreading to erect, connate basally, green or yellow-green, glaucous or pruinose, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, oblong-ovate, or obovate, equal, ca. 2.5 × 1.5 mm, apex acute or obtuse; petals widely spreading from short, erect base, distinct or slightly connate basally, yellow, linear to oblanceolate, not carinate, 4.5–9 mm, apex acute; filaments yellow; anthers yellow; nectar scales yellow, reniform or nearly square. |
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. |
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Carpels | divergent in fruit, connate basally, brown. |
erect in fruit, connate basally, pale brown. |
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2n | = 30. |
= 32, ca. 128. |
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Sedum spathulifolium |
Sedum niveum |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||
Habitat | Quartzite soil, northern slopes | |||||
Elevation | (1500-)1600-3000 m ((4900-)5200-9800 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; BC
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). The mature carpels of Sedum spathulifolium have five ribs and prominent lips along the adaxial suture. The flowers are sweetly fragrant. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 222. | FNA vol. 8, p. 205. | ||||
Parent taxa | Crassulaceae > Sedum | Crassulaceae > Sedum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Cockerellia nivea, S. pinetorum | |||||
Name authority | Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 227. (1832) | Davidson: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 20: 53. (1921) | ||||
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