Herbs, perennial, somewhat tufted, glabrous. Stems root-stocks and erect shoots, branched proximally, sometimes bearing rosettes. Leaves alternate, spreading to ascending, sessile; blade blue-green, not glaucous, linear-oblanceolate, terete to subterete, 4-9(-15) × 1-2 mm, base broadly spurred, not scarious, apex obtuse. Flowering shoots erect or ascending, simple or branched, 1-4(-9) cm, (with small glistening patches); leaf blades linear-oblanceolate, base truncate or spurred; offsets not formed. Inflorescences compact, 3-parted cymes, (5-)10-25-flowered, monochasially branched; branches erect to spreading or recurved, rarely forked; bracts suboblong, base truncate or spurred. Pedicels absent. Flowers 5-6-merous; sepals erect to spreading, distinct, blue-green, linear to narrowly oblong, unequal, ca. 2-4(-6) × 0.7-1.5 mm, apex obtuse; petals spreading, distinct, white tinged with purple, oblong, somewhat carinate, 4-7 mm, apex acute or broadly mucronate; filaments white; anthers purplish; nectar scales dark pink, spatulate. Carpels stellately spreading in fruit, distinct, stramineous. 2n = 19, 22, 24, 44, 52.
Flowering mid summer. Grassland, moist areas, moist cliffs in conifer forests; 300-3000 m; Ariz., Colo., N.Mex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango).
Sedum stelliforme has glistening patches on the flowering branches and sepals. It is found in southern Colorado, Graham, Greenlee, and Apache counties in Arizona, the Zuni Mountains and Fort Wingate in New Mexico, and on the Mexican Plateau. More information is needed to determine whether S. topsentii should be separated from S. stelliforme.
Plant: perennial herb; Stems erect, simple or branching mostly above base, with some sterile branches but few or no basal rosettes, 5-15 cm high in flower, to 5 mm thick, the roots mostly slender
Leaves: often crowded, subterete, linear to oblong, obtuse, truncate to obtuse at base, broadly spurred, mostly smooth at maturity, 4-8(-15) mm long, 1-2 mm wide, often withering persistent
INFLORESCENCE: CYMES mostly 2-3-branched, sometimes broad, open, the branches even to 8 cm long
Flowers: white or at center pinkish, 7-14 mm wide; sepals nearly equal, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, blunt, conspicuously spurred, slightly papillose, 2-4(-6) mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide; petals lanceolate, blunt to broadly acute, 4-7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide; pistils erect, 4-5 mm high
Fruit: FOLLICLES widely spreading, the body 3-5 mm long, to 2.5 mm wide, abruptly narrowed into style; SEEDS ovoid, mammillate, 0.5 mm long
Misc: Rocky places in pines; 1950-3000 m (6400-9800 ft); Jul-Sep
REFERENCES: Moran, Reid. 1994. Bixaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 190-194.
Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Succulent
General: Perennial herb, erect, branching from above the base, arising or not from a basal rosette, to 15 cm.
Leaves: Thick, juicy, and rounded in cross-section, alternate, sessile, crowded, ascending to spreading, somewhat thick and leathery, oblong, bluish-green, persistent.
Flowers: White (sometimes tinged with purple), sessile flowers born in cymes with a flower at each axis, each branch holding up to 25 flowers, flowers 5-6 merous with unequal, linear to oblong sepals, petals spurred, 4-7 mm, oblong with an acute apex, stamens exserted, white with purple anthers. Nectar scales dark pink.
Fruits: Capsules (follicles) 3-5 mm long, stellate and spreading in fruit, seeds ovoid, and covered in nipple like protuberences.
Ecology: Found on rocky soils in pine forests, grasslands, and moist areas on cliffs, from 1,000-10,000 ft (305-3048 m); flowering July-September.
Notes: This plant is similar to Sedum cockerelli, but the leaves of S. stelliforme are rounded in cross-section, while those of S. cockerelli are flat.
Ethnobotany: There are no specific uses recorded for this species, but the genus was used in infusion to treat fevers and sore throats, for wounds, hemorrhoids and to aid in childbirth, a poultice was applied to wounds, and the leaves were used as food and chewed for their juices when water was scarce.
Synonyms: Sedum topsentii
Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011
Etymology: Sedum comes from from the Latin sedo, "to sit," in reference to the manner in which some species attach themselves to stones or walls, while stelliforme is uncertain.
