''Dudleya abramsii'' is a species complex of

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

s native to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and parts of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. There are numerous subspecies, some critically endangered, with varying habits and lifestyles, but most often characterized by a smaller size, yellow flowers, and an affinity for rocky habitats. The subspecies may be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

Description

''Dudleya abramsii'' is a fleshy perennial forming a small basal cluster of leaves around a central

caudex A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is most ...

. The

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

of ''Dudleya abramsii'' is growing in either solitary rosettes or in caespitose forms. The thick,

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

leaves are lance-oblong to lanceolate, reaching up to 11 centimeters in length, but often remaining much smaller, usually 2 to 30 mm long, and 3 to 20 mm wide. The entire rosette is generally only 0.5 to 15 cm wide. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a mostly erect, branching stem lined with pointed

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s and bearing up to 15 flowers. The inflorescence has a peduncle 2 to 25 cm tall, and 1 to 6 mm wide. The lower bracts are 4 to 40 mm large, and the pedicels are anywhere from 0.5 to 7 mm long. The flower has five small, thick

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s at the base of five pale to cream yellow petals each roughly 8 to 13 mm long. The keel of the flower is tinged with fine, purple to red lines.

Taxonomy

There are several subspecies, and many former subspecies with differing recognition.

Flora of North America The ''Flora of North America North of Mexico'' (usually referred to as ''FNA'') is a multivolume work describing the native plants and naturalized plants of North America, including the United States, Canada, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenla ...

and The Jepson Manual have elevated '' Dudleya parva'' to a species, while other subspecies have been moved to '' Dudleya cymosa'' The following subspecies are recognized in the 2012 Jepson eFlora: * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''abramsii'' Rose (Abrams' liveforever) – native to the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Pacific Coast Range ...

of California and Baja California. Syn. ''Dudleya tenuis''. * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''affinis'' K.M. Nakai (San Bernardino Mountains liveforever) –

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

near the edge of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

. Syn. ''Dudleya baldwinensis''. * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''bettinae'' (Hoover) Bartel (San Luis Obispo serpentine dudleya or Betty's liveforever) – endemic to the coastal serpentine of

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a County (United States), county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo ...

. * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''calcicola'' (Bartel & Shevock) K.M. Nakai (Limestone dudleya) – endemic to the southern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

''.'' Syn. ''Dudleya calcicola'' * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''murina'' (Eastw.) Moran (San Luis Obispo or mouse-leaved dudleya) – endemic to coastal San Luis Obispo County * ''Dudleya abramsii'' subsp. ''setchellii'' (Jeps.) Moran (Santa Clara Valley liveforever) – endemic to the

Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Santa Clara'') is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister, California, Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered ...

. Formerly classified under ''D. cymosa''.

Distribution and habitat

''D. abramsii'' is native to

and northern

, where it grows in rocky areas in a number of habitat types.

References

External links

Calflora: ''Dudleya abramsii'' (Abrams' dudleya, Abrams' liveforever)

Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Dudleya abramsii''
— & subspecies links.
USDA Plants Profile for ''Dudleya abramsii''

UC Photos gallery — ''Dudleya abramsii'' ssp. ''affinis''

UC Photos gallery — ''Dudleya abramsii'' ssp. ''parva''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5312041 abramsii Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Taxa named by Joseph Nelson Rose