Sedum lanceolatum
lanceleaf stonecrop
Family CrassulaceaeAlso called spearleaf stonecrop
About
A small succulent of exposed rocky mountain habitats across western North America, from Alaska to New Mexico. It is the main host plant of the Rocky Mountain apollo butterfly over much of its range.
Field notes
Morphology
Very short plant with many branching sterile stems, each ending in a tight rosette of spirally arranged, nearly round-in-section leaves 4–13 mm long. Stems are biennial but replaced by offsets, and branchlets break off easily.
Distribution & habitat
Western North America from Alaska and the Yukon to Arizona and New Mexico and east to South Dakota and Nebraska, in exposed rocky mountain habitats up to about 4,050 m. It survived Pleistocene glaciations on sky islands and nunataks.
Ecology
Nearly the only host of the Rocky Mountain apollo butterfly (Parnassius smintheus) in much of its range. The plant makes a defensive compound, sarmentosin, which the caterpillars take up for their own protection.
Cultivation notes
A drought-tolerant rock-garden plant, rare in the trade and usually sold by European specialists. It can be slow to spread and hard to grow where rainfall is high.
History & etymology
Described by John Torrey in 1827; populations in the Southern Rocky Mountains differ genetically from those further north.
Conservation
Rated globally secure (G5) by NatureServe in 2015, though vulnerable in Saskatchewan.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- United States, Canada
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Crossed S. lanceolatum with another species?Register the cross. If it's not documented yet you'll be the first contributor; if someone already registered it, you'll be taken there to add your photo.