Herbs, perennial, somewhat tufted, glabrous (some glandular hairs on inflorescences). Stems procumbent, rooting, simple, (basally often somewhat woody), bearing rosettes. Leaves alternate, (imbricate), ascending, sessile; blade green, sometimes glaucous, linear to oblong, terete, 10-15 × 1-3 mm, base with truncate spur, not scarious, apex mucronate. Flowering shoots erect or ascending, drooping when young, simple, 15-35 cm; leaf blades linear, base spurred; offsets not formed. Inflorescences terminal corymbiform cymes, 15-25+-flowered, monochasially 3-7-branched, (sparsely glandular-hairy); branches recurved, not forked; bracts similar to leaves. Pedicels absent or to 1 mm. Flowers (5-)7(-9)-merous; sepals erect, connate basally, yellowish green, ovate, equal, 2-3(-3.3) × 1.5-2 mm, apex acute-acuminate, (glabrous or sparsely glandular-pubescent); petals spreading, distinct, yellow, oblong, slightly carinate, 6-7 mm, apex acute; filaments yellow; anthers yellow; nectar scales yellow, transversely oblong. Carpels erect in fruit, distinct, brown. 2n = 56, 88, 112, 120.

Flowering spring-summer. Rock ledges; 0-2000 m; introduced; Que.; Ga., Ill., Ind., Maine, Mass., N.J., N.Y., Ohio; Europe.

Specimens of waifs of Sedum rupestre are known from as early as 1876 in Massachusetts. It was first reported as cultivated in the United States in 1914. Most naturalized records of S. rupestre in North America have been incorrectly named S. reflexum. Sedum rupestre is ephemeral on Prince Edward Island, probably not truly established, and is a garden escape in Ontario.

Perennial herb 15 - 35 cm tall

Stem: highly branched, prostrate, forming loose mats. The flowering stems are erect.

Leaves: alternate, crowded, 5 - 12 mm long, 1 - 2.5 mm wide, lance-linear with a pointed tip, more or less circular in cross-section, succulent. Leaves of the flowering stems have broad spurs at the base.

Flowers: borne on a flat to concave inflorescence, with five to nine oblong-egg-shaped sepals 2 - 3 mm long, and five to nine yellow, spreading, 5 - 7 mm long, oblong petals.

Fruit: an erect, narrow-beaked, warty follicle, 6 - 7 mm long.

Similar species: Sedum acre, Sedum reflexum, Sedum sarmentosum, and Sedum sexangulare have yellow flowers. Sedum sarmentosum is easy to distingush from the others by its whorled leaf arrangement. Sedum acre and S. sexangulare differ by having divergent follicles and five-parted flowers.

Flowering: June to July

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from the Mediterranean as a garden plant, this species rarely escapes in sandy soils of the Chicago Region.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Sedum comes from the Latin word sedo, meaning "to sit," referring to the manner in which some species attach to walls and rocks. Reflexum means "bent backward."

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Fibrous-rooted perennial with much-branched, prostrate stems, forming loose mats, giving rise to many short sterile shoots and a few flowering shoots 1.5-3.5 dm; lvs lance- linear, terete or subterete, apiculate, 5-12 נ1-2.5 mm; infl nodding and subglobose in bud, concave in fr; fls (5-)7(-9)-merous; pet yellow, spreading, 5-7 mm; frs erect; 2n=108. Native of Europe and n. Afr., occasionally escaped from cult. in our range. Summer. (S. rupestre, misapplied)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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