Dudleya rigidiflora is a very rare species of succulent perennial plant known by the common name Playa Maria liveforever, endemic to the coast of southwestern Baja California.[3]
| Dudleya rigidiflora | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Saxifragales |
| Family: | Crassulaceae |
| Genus: | Dudleya |
| Species: | D. rigidiflora
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| Binomial name | |
| Dudleya rigidiflora | |
| Synonyms[1][2] | |
| |
Description edit
Morphology edit
It is a solitary or few-branched plant, but it may form clumps up to 1 meter in diameter. The caudex is 2 decimetres (20 cm) long, and 1.5 to 4 cm wide. Each individual rosette is 0.5 dm (5.0 cm) to 1.5 dm (15 cm) wide, with 20 to 60 erect to ascending leaves. The leaves are light green and glaucous.[4]
The floral stems are 15 to 40 cm tall, green or reddish, 4 to 9 mm in diameter, with 15 to 30 bracts.[4] The inflorescence is of numerous long, slender, and secund racemes. The pedicels are ascending, 4 to 5 mm long. The calyx is deeply 5-cleft, with equal lobes, fleshy, and 6 to 7 mm long, acuminate, and somewhat glaucous. The corolla is 12 mm long, with a tube 5 mm long, the lobes of the petals slender, acute and erect.[5] The color of the corolla is variable, ranging from white with no yellow to red or reddish.[4] There are 10 stamens, much shorter than the corolla, all attached towards the top of the corolla-tube. 5 carpels, slender and erect, free to the base. Type specimen collected in July to October 1896 by an A. W. Anthony.[5]
Specimens collected by Reid Moran show that the chromosome number is n=34.[4]
Distribution edit
Occurs on the coast of southwestern Baja California, around the Playa Maria Bay (Bahía María), near San José de las Palomas.[3] It occurs on barren hillsides and arroyos near the sea.[4]
References edit
- ^ "Dudleya rigidiflora". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
- ^ Just's Botanischer Jahresbericht 31, pt. 1: 826, 1904
- ^ a b Rebman, J. P.; Gibson, J.; Rich, K. (2016). "Annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Baja California, Mexico" (PDF). San Diego Society of Natural History. 45: 131.
- ^ a b c d e Moran, Reid (April 1960). "Dudleya rigidiflora Rose Topotype (8194)". Reid Moran's Field Book: 6092 – via San Diego Natural History Museum.
- ^ a b Rose, Joseph Nelson (1903). "Dudleya rigidiflora". Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden. 3 (9): 18.