Dudleya
Encyclopedia
Dudleya is a genus
of succulent perennials, consisting of about 45 species in southwest North America
.
Many plants in the Dudleya genus were formerly classified as Echeveria
.
The fleshy and glabrous leaves occur in basal rosette
s, in colors generally ranging from green to gray. The inflorescence
s are on vertical or inclined stems up to a meter high, but usually much shorter, topped by a cyme with alternate leaf-like bract
s. Both the petals and sepals of the small flowers are five in number and fused below. Five pistils, also fused below, have 10 stamens arranged around them.
Dudleya species are widespread in their range, typically found in rock outcroppings, cliff faces, or road cuts, where their leaves help them store water in a setting too dry for most types of plants. Most are small and inconspicuous when not in bloom.
The genus is named after William Russell Dudley
, the first head of the botany department at Stanford University
.
In horticulture
, Dudleya should be planted at an angle. This allows accumulated water to drain from the nestlike center of the plant, thus preventing microbial decay.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of succulent perennials, consisting of about 45 species in southwest North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Many plants in the Dudleya genus were formerly classified as Echeveria
Echeveria
Echeveria is a large genus of succulents in the Crassulaceae family, native from Mexico to northwestern South America. The genus is named after the 18th century Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy...
.
The fleshy and glabrous leaves occur in basal rosette
Rosette (botany)
In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...
s, in colors generally ranging from green to gray. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s are on vertical or inclined stems up to a meter high, but usually much shorter, topped by a cyme with alternate leaf-like bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...
s. Both the petals and sepals of the small flowers are five in number and fused below. Five pistils, also fused below, have 10 stamens arranged around them.
Dudleya species are widespread in their range, typically found in rock outcroppings, cliff faces, or road cuts, where their leaves help them store water in a setting too dry for most types of plants. Most are small and inconspicuous when not in bloom.
The genus is named after William Russell Dudley
William Russell Dudley
William Russell Dudley was a botanist, born in Guilford, Connecticut. He graduated from Cornell University in 1874, and subsequently studied natural history under Louis Agassiz on Penikese Island in 1875, and in the Harvard Summer School in 1876...
, the first head of the botany department at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
In horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
, Dudleya should be planted at an angle. This allows accumulated water to drain from the nestlike center of the plant, thus preventing microbial decay.
Selected species
- Dudleya abramsiiDudleya abramsiiDudleya abramsii is a succulent plant known by the common name Abrams' liveforever. It is native to California and northern Baja California, where it grows in rocky areas in a number of habitat types. It is a fleshy perennial forming a small basal cluster of leaves around a central caudex...
- Dudleya anthonyi - formerly in EcheveriaEcheveriaEcheveria is a large genus of succulents in the Crassulaceae family, native from Mexico to northwestern South America. The genus is named after the 18th century Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy...
- Dudleya attenuata - Orcutt's live-forever, Tapertip live-forever. Formerly in Echeveria, sometimes included in D. edulis
- Dudleya blochmaniaeDudleya blochmaniaeDudleya blochmaniae is a succulent plant known by the common name Blochman's liveforever or Blochman's dudleya. This plant is native to California and Baja California, where it grows along the coastline.-Description:...
- Dudleya blochmaniae ssp. brevifolia
- Dudleya brittoniiDudleya brittoniiDudleya brittonii Dudleya brittonii Dudleya brittonii ((DUD-lee-yuh brit-TON-ee-eye), common name Chalk Dudleya, is a succulent plant in the Crassulaceae family. It is found in Baja California. Leaves grow in a basal rosette and are covered with a dusty, chalky, mealy white epicuticular “wax”...
- Dudleya caespitosaDudleya caespitosaDudleya caespitosa is a succulent plant known by several common names, including Sealettuce, Sand lettuce, and Coast dudleya. It is endemic to California, where it grows along the coastline in the southern half of the state....
- Sea Lettuce. Syn. Echeveria californica, E. cotyledon, E. helleri, E. laxa, Sedum cotyledon. - Dudleya calcicolaDudleya calcicolaDudleya calcicola is a succulent plant known by the common name limestone liveforever, or limestone dudleya. It is endemic to California, where it is a rare resident of limestone outcroppings and rocky slopes in the southern Sierra Nevada and nearby mountains and foothills.-Description:This plant...
- Limestone dudleya - Dudleya candelabrumDudleya candelabrumDudleya candelabrum is a succulent plant known by the common name candleholder liveforever, or candleholder dudleya. This plant is endemic to California, where it grows wild only on the northern Channel Islands.-Description:...
- Dudleya candida - formerly in Echeveria
- Dudleya cedrosensis - invalid name see Dudleya pachyphytum
- Dudleya cultrata - formerly in Echeveria
- Dudleya cymosaDudleya cymosaDudleya cymosa is a succulent plant known by the common name Canyon live-forever. The plant is found in rocky areas in the low elevations of California and southern Oregon mountains.-Description:...
- Canyon live-forever. Formerly in Echeveria. - Dudleya densifloraDudleya densifloraDudleya densiflora is a succulent plant known by the common name San Gabriel Mountains liveforever. This is a very rare plant which is endemic to the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, California...
- Dudleya edulisDudleya edulisDudleya edulis is a succulent plant known by the common name fingertips. This plant is native to Southern California and Baja California, where it grows in rocky areas of the coastal and the inland Peninsular Ranges mountains.-Description:...
- Fingertips. Formerly in Echeveria or SedumSedumSedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. It contains around 400 species of leaf succulents that are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, varying from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have...
. - Dudleya farinosaDudleya farinosaDudleya farinosa is a succulent plant known by several common names, including bluff lettuce, powdery liveforever, and powdery dudleya.-Distribution:...
- Dudleya gnomaDudleya gnomaDudleya gnoma is a rare species of succulent plant in the stonecrop family known by the common names munchkin liveforever and munchkin dudleya. It is endemic to Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it is known from one single population containing about 3200 plants...
- Munchkin dudleya - Dudleya greeneiDudleya greeneiDudleya greenei is a rare succulent plant known by the common name Greene's liveforever, or Greene's dudleya. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it grows along the cliffs of four of the eight islands.-Description:...
- Dudleya guadalupensis
- Dudleya hassei - Catalina live-forever, Catalina dudleya
- Dudleya ingens
- Dudleya lanceolataDudleya lanceolataDudleya lanceolata is a succulent plant known by the common name lanceleaf liveforever. This plant is native to the mountains of Southern California and Baja California, where it is found in rocky areas and slopes.-Description:...
- Dudleya linearis
- Dudleya multicaulisDudleya multicaulisDudleya multicaulis is a succulent plant known by the common name manystem liveforever. This dudleya is endemic to southern California, where it is rare and becoming increasingly uncommon as its habitat is altered.-Description:...
- Many-stemmed dudleya - Dudleya nesioticaDudleya nesioticaDudleya nesiotica is a very rare succulent plant known by the common name Santa Cruz Island liveforever. This dudleya is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel Islands of California. This is a squat plant growing in mats on the rocky, exposed ground of the windswept island...
- Dudleya pachyphytum - Cedros Island dudleya
- Dudleya palmeriDudleya palmeriDudleya palmeri is a succulent plant known by the common name Palmer's liveforever. This dudleya is endemic to California where it grows along the coastline of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties southward.-Description:...
- Dudleya pulverulentaDudleya pulverulentaDudleya pulverulenta is a succulent plant known by the common names chalk lettuce and chalk liveforever.-Distribution:This dudleya is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it is found in steep open rocky areas in coastal and inland mountains and desert foothills, such...
- Chalk lettuce. Syn. Echeveria argentea, E. pulverulenta, Cotyledon pulverulenta - Dudleya saxosaDudleya saxosaDudleya saxosa is a succulent plant known by the common name Panamint liveforever. This dudleya is native to the rocky slopes of the Peninsular Ranges and the sky islands in Mojave Desert mountains, such as the Panamint Range, in Southern California, and in Baja California and...
- Rock live-forever. Syn. Echeveria collomiae - Dudleya setchelliiDudleya setchelliiDudleya setchellii, the Santa Clara Valley Dudleya, is a member of the Dudleya genus of succulent perennials, members of the family Crassulaceae...
- Santa Clara Valley dudleya - Dudleya stoloniferaDudleya stoloniferaDudleya stolonifera is a succulent plant known by the common name Laguna Beach liveforever. This is a rare plant which is endemic to the coastline of Orange County, California. It is known from only about six populations in the vicinity of Laguna Beach, totalling about 30,000 individuals...
- Dudleya traskiaeDudleya traskiaeDudleya traskiae is a rare succulent plant known by the common name Santa Barbara Island liveforever. This dudleya is endemic to Santa Barbara Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it grows on rocky bluffs. The plant has a basal rosette of flat, spade-shaped fleshy leaves up to 15...
- Santa Barbara Island live-forever - Dudleya variegataDudleya variegataDudleya variegata is a succulent plant known by the common name variegated liveforever. It is native to Baja California and adjacent San Diego County in California, where it grows in several habitat types, including chaparral and vernal pools....
- Dudleya verityiDudleya verityiDudleya verityi is a rare species of succulent plant known by the common name Verity's liveforever. It is endemic to Ventura County, California, where it is known from only three occurrences in the vicinity of Conejo Mountain between Camarillo and Thousand Oaks...
- Dudleya virensDudleya virensDudleya virens, the Green liveforever or Bright green dudleya, is an uncommon species of perennial, succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to California and Baja California, growing in Los Angeles County, the Channel Islands, and Guadalupe Island .-Description:The Dudleya virens leaves...
- Alabaster plant, Island live-forever - Dudleya viscidaDudleya viscidaDudleya viscida is a rare succulent plant known by the common name sticky liveforever.-Distribution:This dudleya is endemic to southern California, where it is known from only about 20 occurrences in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside Counties...
- Sticky Dudleya
Further reading
- Dudleya and Hassenthaus Handbook, 1993, Paul Thompson, Bonsall Publications. ISBN 0960206655 ISBN 9780960206650