Habit: Perennial herb (annual, biennial, subshrub), rhizomes often present, stolons present or 0, sometimes from stout caudex, generally glabrous (glandular-hairy); rosettes 0 or open to dense; stolons generally leafy; stems often shedding leaves as flowering progresses; sterile shoots generally densely leafy.
Leaf: fleshy, sessile, alternate or opposite (whorled), cylindrical to strongly flattened, linear to suborbicular; stem leaves ascending to reflexed; bases truncate to cordate and slightly clasping, decurrent or not; tips acute to notched.
Inflorescence: terminal cymes, generally panicle-like, often head-like to flat-topped, cylindrical, or obconic, the branches sometimes raceme-like; flowers generally bracteate, the bracts like stem leaves but generally smaller.
Flower: sepals, petals generally 5(4--8), sepals < petals, fused at base, blunt to acuminate; petals free or fused at base, erect to spreading; stamens generally 8 or 10, in 2 whorls, epipetalous or not; pistils (4)5(8), free or fused at base.
Fruit: follicles free or fused at base, erect or spreading, style generally persisting as elongate beak, splitting along distal, inner margin.
Seed: many, narrowly ellipsoid to lanceolate, ovoid, or pear-shaped, longitudinally striate or not, the surface sometimes papillate or netted, often shiny, sometimes with short narrow stalk at one or both ends, not prominently winged or adhesive.
Species In Genus: +- 500 species, largest genus in family: temperate and tropical mountains, North America, Mexico, Central America, Europe, Asia, northern and eastern Africa, Atlantic islands, Indian Ocean islands; cultivated as ornamentals, green roofs. Twelve native taxa are CA endemics.
Etymology: (Latin: to sit, referring to its low habit)
Note: Sedum integrifolium (Raf.) A. Nelson (
S. rosea (L.) Scop. misapplied), +- dioecious with tuberous caudex and winged seeds, moved to
Rhodiola. CA reports of
Sedum oreganum Nutt. from n KR based on misidentifications, but reported in s Oregon, near Siskiyou Co. border, so should be sought in n KR; keys here to
Sedum patens but petals, filaments yellow, inflorescences erect in bud, rosette leaves generally shiny, rosettes 12--16 mm diam.
Sedum sexangulare L. a local escape from gardens in n ScV.
Sedum pinetorum Brandegee a distinct species but doubtful member of CA flora; more likely Mexican (Moran 1950 Leaflets West. Bot. 6:62--63). Structures below inflorescence interpreted here as stems, leaves, not peduncles, bracts. Individual leaves or vegetative bulblets break free, root, start new plants in some taxa. Rosette density a measure of how closely leaves packed on rosette axis and best assessed on plants in full sun; shaded or sheltered plants often have atypically loose rosettes, longer internodes. Petal tips, on freshly opened flowers, oriented 0--30 degrees from vertical called erect, 30--45 degrees from vertical called ascending, > 45 degrees called spreading. With age petals can spread more widely. In cultivation flowers sometimes have petals more widely spreading, paler than in wild populations. Sepals of most flowers elongate after flowering; descriptions give sepal lengths during flowering. Fresh petal, stamen colors given in keys. Anther, filament color often easiest to assess in flower buds, before anther dehisces; they age to darker hues, rarely can be determined on dried specimens. Herbarium collections should include leafy fertile stems, early in the flowering cycle, and note unopened anther color, angle, color of fresh petals, and what structures, if any, waxy. Color photographs of living plants from several angles often useful, as so much detail lost in challenge of preparing dried specimens.
Unabridged Note: Sedum blochmaniae Eastw., synonym of Dudleya blochmaniae. Sedum pumilum Benth., synonym of Sedella pumila. Sedum rhodiola, replacement name for Sedum rosea, misapplied in CA (see Rhodiola integrifolia). Sedum variegatum S. Watson., synonym of Dudleya variegata.Jepson eFlora Author: Peter F. Zika, Richard E. Brainerd, Julie Kierstead, Barbara L. Wilson, Nick Otting & Steven Darington.
Reference: Zika 2014 Phytotaxa 159:111--121; Zika et al. 2018 Phytotaxa 368: 1--61
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Sedum
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