Herbs, perennial, tufted, glabrous. Stems rootstocks, erect, rarely branched, (smooth or papillose), bearing erect shoots and axillary rosettes. Leaves alternate, spreading to ascending, sessile; blade green or yellow-green, sometimes glaucous, obovate or oblong-spatulate, laminar, 9.5-15 × 1.5-3.5 mm, base spurred, not scarious, apex rounded to obtuse, (surfaces papillose). Flowering shoots erect, simple, 5-10 cm, (sometimes papillose distally); leaf blades oblanceolate-elliptic, oblanceolate-oblong, or spatulate, base short-spurred; offsets not formed. Inflorescences 3-parted cymes, (4-)10-27-flowered, 1-3-branched, sometimes monochasially; branches ± arched, spreading, or sometimes recurved, sometimes forked; bracts similar to leaves, smaller. Pedicels 1-3.5 mm. Flowers 5-merous; sepals erect to spreading, distinct basally, yellow-green to yellow, lanceolate-linear or clavate-oblong, unequal, 4.5-12 × 1.4-2.6 mm, apex acute or obtuse, (papillose); petals erect, curving upward distally, distinct, rarely slightly connate, white streaked with pink, lanceolate-elliptic, not carinate, 5-8 mm, apex obtuse, with minute mucronate appendage; filaments white; anthers purple or brown; nectar scales yellow or creamy white, square. Carpels erect in fruit, distinct, pale brown. 2n = 28, 30, 32, (34), 58, 64.
Flowering late summer-early autumn. Pine forests in high mountains, shallow soils, usually in shade; 1600-3200 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.
Mature carpels of Sedum cockerellii have conspicuous, divergent beaks.
Plant: perennial herb; Tufted, with clustered fleshy white roots and with compact basal winter rosettes that grow out to slender erect or ascending flowering stems 0.5-2 dm high
Leaves: of rosettes obovate to spatulate, acute to truncate, often papillose, 1-6 mm long, 1-4 mm wide, the upper leaves gradually narrower, narrowly spatulate to lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute to obtuse, 5-18 mm long, 1-6 mm wide
INFLORESCENCE: CYMES 2-6 cm wide, often with several branches
Flowers: white or pinkish, 15-20 mm wide; sepals unequal, narrowly oblong or linear, acute to obtuse, weakly or not spurred, 4-9 mm long; petals lanceolate, acute, minutely mucronate, 6-9 mm long, 1-3 mm wide; pistils erect, 5-8 mm high
Fruit: FOLLICLES nearly erect, abruptly narrowing to styles; SEEDS oblong-elliptic to pyriform, brown, reticulate, 0.6-0.8 mm long
Misc: Usually on rocks in partial shade in mts., often among mosses; 1050-3500 m (3500-11,500 ft); Jun-Oct
REFERENCES: Moran, Reid. 1994. Bixaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 190-194.
Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Succulent
General: Tufted perennial, growing from cluster of fleshy white roots with compact basal winter rosettes that grow out to slender erect or ascending stems 5-20 cm tall.
Leaves: Blades of rosettes obovate to spatulate, acute to truncate, often papillose, 1-6 mm long, 1-4 mm wide, upper leaves gradually narrower, spatulate to lanceolate or linear-oblong, acute to obtuse, 5-18 mm long, 1-16 mm wide, fleshy.
Flowers: In cymes 2-6 cm wide, often with several branches, flowers 5-merous, white or pinkish, 15-20 mm wide; sepals unequal, narrowly oblong or linear, acute to obtuse, weakly or not spurred, 4-9 mm long; petals lanceolate, acute, minutely mucronate, 6-9 mm long, 1-3 mm wide; pistils erect, 5-8 mm high.
Fruits: Follicles nearly erect, abruptly narrowing to styles.
Ecology: Found on rocks, usually in partial shade, among mosses, or in crevices and in spaces that harbor pockets of moisture from 3,500-11,500 ft (1067-3505 m); flowers June-October.
Notes: Distinguished from the similar S. wrightii (found at GICL and CHIR) by having widely spreading petals that are narrower and more attenuate, where S. wrightii has a short tube formed by the petals, which are erect basally, and spreading only in their distal halves.
Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other members of this genus do have uses.
Etymology: Sedum comes from the Latin sedere, to sit, while cockerelli is named for Theodore Dru Cockerell (1866-1948) and English born zoologist who curated the Colorado College Museum.
Synonyms: Cockerellia cockerellii, Sedum griffithsii, Sedum wootonii
Editor: SBuckley, 2010
