Sedum lanceolatum | |
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Subspecies lanceolatum, White River National Forest, Colorado | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Crassulaceae |
Genus: | Sedum |
Species: | S. lanceolatum |
Binomial name | |
Sedum lanceolatum | |
Subspecies [2] | |
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Synonyms [2] | |
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Sedum lanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family stonecrop family known by the common names lanceleaf stonecrop and spearleaf stonecrop.
It is native to western North America and occurs in western Canada and the United States. It is distributed from Alaska to Arizona and New Mexico and as far east as South Dakota and Nebraska. It grows in exposed, rocky mountainous habitats at moderate and high elevations, up to 4,048 meters (13,281 ft) in the Rocky Mountains. The plant persisted and evolved on sky islands and nunataks in these ranges during glaciation events during the Pleistocene epoch.
Sedum lanceolatum is a very short succulent plant. Each plant will develop numerous branching sterile stems with tight clusters of leaves. [3] The stems are both decumbent and ascending , growing along the surface of the ground or curving to grow upwards. Each stem will have a rosette of leaves at its end. [4] The branchlets are easily broken apart. [3] Each stem is biennial, but replaced by offsets. [5]
The leaves are not easily detached from the stems and are attached to the stems in a spiral. [5] [4] The shape of the leaves is subterete, nearly circular in cross section, with an outline that can be lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or elliptic-ovate. They are also quite short, just 4.2 to 13 millimeters long, and 1.5–3.5 mm in width. [4] The leaves vary in color with those exposed to strong, full sun conditions they are maroon while in less exposed situations they are dark gray-green and dull. [5]
The flowering stems are erect , growing straight upwards, to between 3 and 18 centimeters (1.2 and 7.1 in) in height. [4] Leaves are attached alternately to flowering stems and often fall off by the time the flowers begin to bloom. [3] The flowering head is a flat-topped cluster of yellow flowers. [5] The number of flowers on each stem may be as few as three or as many as twenty-five. [6] They are either loosely or densely packed on a branched cyme, a type of determinate inflorescence. [7]
The flowers have canary to golden yellow petals sometimes tinged with red, especially on the central rib. [4] [6] Each flower will usually have five petals and five sepals, but occasionally may have just four. [8] The petals are longer than the sepals, normally measuring 6 to 9.2 millimeters long, [4] but occasionally just 5.5 mm. [3] They are lanceolate to ovate in shape. The ten stamens are tipped with yellow anthers. [3] Each flower will normally produce five carpels, but can occasionally have just four. [8] The central flower will be notiably larger than the other flowers on a stem. [9]
The plant reproduces sexually by its tiny, lightweight seeds, or vegetatively when sections of its stem break off and root. [10] The seeds are about 1 mm in size and brown to dark brown in color. [3]
The related narrow-petaled stonecrop (Sedum stenopetalum) can be distinguished by a ridge on the underside of its leaves. [11]
Sedum lanceolatum is classified in the Sedum genus in the family Crassulaceae. The scientific description and name of the species was published in 1827 by John Torrey. [2]
There are significant genetic differences between populations of lanceleaf stonecrop between the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Central Rocky Mountains across the Wyoming Gap and what is now the Wyoming Basin shrub steppe because the lower altitudes serve as a barrier to this and other species with a preference for high elevations. [12] Additionally during the most recent glacial period genetic evidence supports that the species was isolated in on sky islands and nunataks that protruded above the glaciers. [13]
The species has two accepted subspecies, [2] though the Flora of North America following the classification by Charles Leo Hitchcock lists them as varieties. [4]
The autonymic subspecies is much more widespread, growing through much of the western United States and Canada. [14] It differs from subspecies nesioticum in having shorter leaves on average, ranging from 4.2 to 9 mm where the sister subspecies is 8 to 13 mm. [4] Its flowering stems are 5 to 15 cm (2.0 to 5.9 in) tall and its flowers have sepals that measure 2–4 mm with petals 6–9 mm. It can grow from sea level to elevations of 4,100 meters (13,500 ft). [14]
This subspecies was scientifically described as a species and named Sedum nesioticum in 1941 by George Neville Jones. It was reclassified as a subspecies by Robert Theodore Clausen in 1948. [15] It grows near the ocean in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. [16] It is distinguished from the more widspread subspecies by having leaves that are wider, 3-3.5 mm, and at 8-13 mm longer on average with some overlap. [4] Its flowering stems reach 10 to 30 cm (3.9 to 11.8 in) tall, also somewhat larger as are the sepals and petals, 4–5 mm and 9–9.2 mm in length respectively. It flowers two weeks later on average, likely due to the cooling effect of growing near the Pacific Ocean. Its populations are all found within 20 meters (66 ft) of sea level. [16]
Sedum lanceolatum has 13 synonyms of the species or one of its subspecies. [2] [17] [15]
Name | Year | Rank | Synonym of: | Notes |
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Amerosedum lanceolatum(Torr.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1985 | species | S. lanceolatum | ≡ hom. |
Amerosedum nesioticum(G.N.Jones) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1985 | species | subsp. nesioticum | ≡ hom. |
Amerosedum subalpinum(Blank.) Á.Löve & D.Löve | 1985 | species | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Sedum lanceolatum var. nesioticum(G.N.Jones) C.L.Hitchc. | 1964 | variety | subsp. nesioticum | ≡ hom. |
Sedum lanceolatum subsp. subalpinum(Blank.) R.T.Clausen | 1975 | subspecies | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Sedum lanceolatum var. subalpinum(Fröd.) H.Ohba | 2007 | variety | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. nom. illeg. |
Sedum lanceolatum subsp. typicumR.T.Clausen | 1948 | subspecies | S. lanceolatum | ≡ hom. not validly publ. |
Sedum nesioticumG.N.Jones | 1941 | species | subsp. nesioticum | ≡ hom. |
Sedum shastenseBritton | 1903 | species | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Sedum stenopetalum f. rubrolineatumCockerell | 1891 | form | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Sedum stenopetalum subsp. nesioticum(G.N.Jones) R.T.Clausen | 1946 | species | subsp. nesioticum | ≡ hom. |
Sedum stenopetalum var. subalpinumFröd. | 1936 | species | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Sedum subalpinumBlank. | 1905 | species | subsp. lanceolatum | = het. |
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym ; = heterotypic synonym |
The species name, lanceolatum, means lanceolate . [8] In English it is known by the common name lanceleaf stonecrop and the variant lance-leaf stonecrop. [6] [18] It is additionally known as spearleaf stonecrop and common stonecrop. [8] It is at times also called yellow stonecrop, [19] but it shares this name with Sedum acre , [20] Sedum nuttallianum , [21] , and Sedum stenopetalum . [22]
Lanceleaf stonecrop has a native range across much of western North America from Alaska to New Mexico. [23] In Canada it is reported from the Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. [24] In the Pacific Northwest it grows in much of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Eastward across the Rocky Mountains it is only reported from three counties in Montana. [23] It grows in five counties in the Black Hills of southwest South Dakota while only found Sioux County at the western edge of Nebraska. [23] [3] It grows in all but two counties of Wyoming and the western two-thirds of Colorado. It only grows in the northwestern part of New Mexico. [23] In the Southwestern United States it grows throughout all of Utah, the northeastern part of Arizona, many parts of Nevada, and in the high Sierra Nevada ranges, the Klamath Ranges, and high Cascade Mountains in California. [23] [25] The exact extent of its range is uncertain, but is estimated at between 20,000 and 2,500,000 square kilometers (8,000 and 965,000 sq mi). [1]
It grows on stony outcrops, dry rocky slopes, and areas of lithosol, places with very thin and poorly developed soils. [18] [25] It is associated with a wide range of stones including limestone, sandstone, marble, andesite, basalt, granodiorite, and granite. [10] However, the botanist Charles Uhl reports that it it is not often found or may be absent from basaltic rocks and lava outcropings. [26] It is strongly associated with the alpine tundra and subalpine zone along the North American Cordillera, but can be found in many other habitats including on gravelly sites on the Great Plains adjacent to the mountains. [5] It is also found in sunny, open stony places in sagebrush steppes, piñon–juniper woodlands, mountain brush, ponderosa pine forests, interior Douglass-fir forests, aspen, spruce–fir forests, lodgepole pine communities. [7] [8]
Sedum lanceolatum was evaluated by NatureServe in 2015 and rated as secure (G5). It was also rated as secure (S5) in the Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, and Wyoming. In Alberta and Montana it is apparently secure (S4), but is vulnerable (S3) in Saskatchewan. It was only rated as critically imperiled (S1) in Alaska. [1]
Sedum lanceolatum is almost the sole host plant of the Rocky Mountain apollo butterfly (Parnassius smintheus) in large parts of its range. [27] The plant produces a deterrent cyanoglycoside, sarmentosin, so that herbivores do not feed on it. This butterfly's larvae sequester sarmentosin from the plant for their own defense. [28] However, it has been found that if the plant becomes physically damaged by mechanical means, the larvae feeding on it have reduced growth rates, possibly due to an induced defense by the plant itself. [29] Consequently, the larvae often hurry to feed, then switch to another plant within the time window offering the highest nutritional quality. Larvae will typically feed and leave a plant in less than half an hour. [30] From November to February, the leaves of their foodplant are fatally toxic to the larvae, but for the rest of the year, the larvae feed and develop normally. If the snow melts before March, the eggs hatch while the larval foodplant is still toxic, and the larvae perish. [31]
Lanceleaf stonecrop is a drough tollerant species that is planted in rock gardens. [11] However, it is a rare species in the plant trade and usually only available from specialist sources in Europe. [5] It can be slow to spread and difficult to grow in areas of high rainfall. [9]
Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into the southern hemisphere in Africa and South America. The plants vary from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have water-storing leaves. The flowers usually have five petals, seldom four or six. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals. Various species formerly classified as Sedum are now in the segregate genera Hylotelephium and Rhodiola.
Aquilegia coerulea, the Colorado columbine, Rocky Mountain columbine, or blue columbine, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to the Rocky Mountains and some of the surrounding states of the western United States. It is the state flower of Colorado. The Latin specific name coerulea means "sky blue".
Sedum acre, commonly known as the goldmoss stonecrop, mossy stonecrop, goldmoss sedum, biting stonecrop, and wallpepper, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is native to Europe, northern and western Asia and North Africa, but is also naturalised in North America, Japan, and New Zealand.
Hylotelephium telephium, known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John, witch's moneybags, and garden stonecrop is a succulent perennial plant of the family Crassulaceae native to Eurasia. The flowers are held in dense heads and can be reddish or yellowish-white. A number of cultivars, often with purplish leaves, are grown in gardens as well as hybrids between this species and the related Hylotelephium spectabile (iceplant), especially the popular 'Herbstfreude'. Occasionally garden plants may escape and naturalise as has happened in parts of North America.
Rhodiola is a genus of perennial plants in the family Crassulaceae that resemble Sedum and other members of the family. Like sedums, Rhodiola species are often called stonecrops. Some authors merge Rhodiola into Sedum.
Claytonia lanceolata is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae, known by the common names lanceleaf springbeauty and western springbeauty.
Sedum album, the white stonecrop, is a flowering plant of the genus Sedum in the family Crassulaceae. It is found in the northern temperate regions of the world, often growing in crevices or free-draining rocky soil. As a long-day plant it grows vegetatively for most of the year and flowers in summer.
Sedum oblanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names oblongleaf stonecrop and Applegate stonecrop. It is native to the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon and far northern California, where it grows on many types of rocky substrate, such as serpentine soils and other ultramafics. It is a succulent plant forming basal rosettes of waxy leaves. The leaves are widely lance-shaped, widest near the distal end and narrowing to rounded or notched tips. Smaller leaves occur farther up the stem. The small inflorescence grows a few centimeters tall and bears up to 50 flowers in a flat-topped array. The flowers have cream or yellowish petals up to a centimeter long.
Sedum obtusatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common name Sierra stonecrop. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and adjacent high mountain ranges of California, its distribution extending north into Oregon and east into Nevada. It grows in rocky mountain habitat.
Sedum stenopetalum, also known as wormleaf stonecrop or narrow-petaled stonecrop, is a species of flowering plant in the stonecrop family. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to northern California to Wyoming. It can be found in many types of rocky habitat, such as cliffs, talus, and steep ridges. It is a succulent plant producing mats or clumps of lance-shaped, linear, or three-lobed leaves each under 2 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a short, erect array of one to many flowers with lance-shaped petals up to a centimeter long. The petals are yellow, sometimes with red veins.
Parnassius smintheus, the Rocky Mountain parnassian or Rocky Mountain apollo, is a high-altitude butterfly found in the Rocky Mountains throughout the United States and Canada. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus (Parnassius) of the swallowtail family (Papilionidae). The butterfly ranges in color from white to pale yellow-brown, with red and black markings that indicate to predators it is unpalatable.
Pediomelum tenuiflorum, the slimflower scurfpea, is a perennial in the pea family. It is about 2–3 feet (0.6–0.9 m) tall and has a lot of leaves on top. Its leaves can reach a length of 3 inches (80 mm). This flower can be found mainly in the central and southwestern U.S.
Penstemon davidsonii is a species of penstemon known by the common name Davidson's penstemon, honoring Dr. George Davidson. It is native to western North America.
Sedum hispanicum, the Spanish stonecrop, is a species of plant in the family Crassulaceae.
Sedum alamosanum, known by the common name Alamos stonecrop, is a rare succulent plant native to the mountains of northwestern Mexico. It is characterized by white flowers and bluish-green leaves. It is found in Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Dudleya cymosasubsp. pumila, most commonly known as the low canyon dudleya, chalky canyon dudleya or California live-forever, is a species of perennial succulent plant. It has diamond to spoon shaped leaves, sometimes coated with a fine white powder, and in May through July, bright red, orange or yellow flowers adorn the short inflorescence. A leaf succulent primarily found growing in rocky cliffs and slopes, it is endemic to California, and grows in the Transverse Ranges and South Coast Ranges, with some outlying populations. A variable plant, in some localities it is difficult to distinguish from other plants in the genus.
Trifolium parryi, commonly known as Parry's clover or Parry clover, is a high altitude species of plant from the western United States. It grows in the Rocky Mountains from southern Montana to northern New Mexico. It is a short plant that is adapted to the harsh conditions and short growing season near and above timberline.
Sedum microcarpum, commonly known as the small-fruited stonecrop, is a species of Sedum from the family Crassulaceae. It is native to Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, and Syria. The plant is a short, bushy annual with white flowers. The leaves are succulent, narrowly oblong, and usually tinted red.
Hylotelephium ewersii, the pink Mongolian stonecrop or pink sedum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is native to the high mountains of Asia, including the Altai, Tian Shan, and western Himalayas, and it has been introduced elsewhere, particularly to Scandinavia. A deciduous perennial reaching 15 cm (6 in), it is typically found in forests or in rocky crevices in ravines at elevations from 1,800 to 2,500 m. With its pink flowers and succulent blue‑gray leaves, and hardy to USDA zone 2, it has found use as a ground cover.