Sedum eastwoodiae

Zika, Peter F., Wilson, Barbara L., Brainerd, Richard E., Otting, Nick, Darington, Steven, Knaus, Brian J. & Nelson, Julie Kierstead, 2018, A review of Sedum section Gormania (Crassulaceae) in western North America, Phytotaxa 368 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

3. Sedum eastwoodiae (Britton in Britton & Rose 1903: 31) Berger (1930: 451). Figs. 26–27 .

Gormania eastwoodiae Britton in Britton & Rose (1903: 31). Cotyledon mendocinoana Fedde in Schumann & Fedde (1904: 828). Sedum laxum (Britton in Britton & Rose 1903: 29) Berger (1930: 451) subsp. eastwoodiae (Britton) Clausen (1975: 398) . Sedum laxum (Britton) A.Berger var. eastwoodiae (Britton) Ohba (2007: 889) .

Type:— UNITED STATES. California: northern Mendocino Co., Red Mountain , August 1902, A . Eastwood s.n. (lectotype, designated by Clausen [1942: 39], CAS; isolectotype, NY) .

Britton (in Britton & Rose 1903) listed only one gathering of Gormania eastwoodiae , neither noting the location of replicates nor choosing one as a holotype. Clausen (1942) in effect lectotypified the CAS material as the holotype, and it was superior to the isotype at NY. His lectotype choice was probably influenced by correspondence at NY with Eastwood, dated 30 August 1903, which showed that the CAS collection was seen by Britton and then returned to Eastwood at CAS.

Additional specimens examined: — UNITED STATES. CALIFORNIA. Mendocino County: Red Mountain , 1097 m, 14 July 1962, Hutchison 909 ( JEPS, SD) ; same site, 1175 m, 14 July 1962, Hutchison 911 ( JEPS, RSA) ; same site, 1070 m, 14 July 1970, Clausen 70-68 ( BH) , and Clausen 70-69 ( BH) ; same site, 1045 m, 18 July 1970, Clausen 70-84 ( BH) ; same site, 1110 m, 19 June 1976, Denton 3940 ( WTU) ; same site, 1025 m, 24 June 1977, Denton 4099 ( OSC, WTU) ; same site, 1240 m, 3 July 2012, Wilson & Otting CWG-117 ( OSC) .

Distribution and ecology: —A narrow endemic on rocky serpentine slopes of Red Mountain and adjacent Little Red Mountain in Mendocino County, California, in the Outer North Coast Ranges ecoregion (Jepson eFlora 2017), at elevations of 600–1240 m ( Fig. 27 ).

Notes:— Sedum eastwoodiae ( Fig. 26 ) flowering stems were short, and the plants formed extensive mats of sterile rosettes. The rosette leaves were acute to obtuse, rarely notched. Stem leaves were suborbicular and slightly clasping. The sepals were relatively short; the petals ascending, bright pink, sometimes broadly edged with white, and had acute tips. The fresh anthers were dark red, aging black.

Sedum eastwoodiae was often treated as a subspecies of S. laxum (e.g., Denton 1982), and the two species had similar bright pink flowers and dark red anthers. However, S. laxum had more acuminate and stiffly erect petal tips. Sedum eastwoodiae had suborbicular stem leaves resembling those of S. flavidum and S. laxum subsp. heckneri , though the stem leaves of the latter were often larger. Sedum eastwoodiae shared with S. flavidum acute, slightly spreading petals, and a tetraploid chromosome count. The pallid flowers of S. flavidum were relatively shorter and wider than the pink flowers of S. eastwoodiae . The morphology of S. eastwoodiae , S. flavidum , and S. laxum were compared in Table 6.

Sedum eastwoodiae was identified as a candidate for federal endangered species status on 15 December 1980 (Federal Register Volume 45, page 82479). A listing petition was denied on 18 September 2014 by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Federal Register Volume 79, pages 56029–56040) .

Figures

FIGURE 26. Sedum eastwoodiae, Mendocino Co., California (Wilson & Otting CWG-117). A. Habit, generally short plants with small leaves. B. Stem leaves, suborbicular, slightly glaucous, slightly clasping at base. C. Dense rosette leaves. D. Typical dense flat-topped inflorescences. E. Columnar inflorescence in cultivation. F. Flowers in the wild, ascending petals with acute tips, relatively short sepals, acute- to blunt-tipped. G. Flower in cultivation, petal tips broad, acute, spreading more than typical in wild plants.

FIGURE 27. Distribution of the pink-flowered taxa Sedum eastwoodiae, S. laxum subsp. heckneri, and S. laxum subsp. laxum, based on verified herbarium specimens.