GOLDMANII   (Rose) Moran, 1996

Synonyms :

Altamiranoa goldmanii  Rose (1903) / Villadia goldmanii  (Rose) A. Berger (1930)

Cotyledon batesii  Hemsley (1878) / Altamiranoa batesii  (Hemsley) Rose (1903) / Villadia batesii  (Hemsley) Baehni & Macbride (1937)

Umbilicus mexicanus  Schlechtendal (1880) / Cotyledon mexicana  (Schlechtendal) Hemsley (1880) / Altamiranoa mexicana  (Schlechtendal) Rose (1905) / Villadia mexicana (Schlechtendal) H. Jacobsen (1958)

Altamiranoa batesii var. subalpina  Fröderström (1935) / Villadia batesii var. subalpina (Fröderström) G. D. Rowley (1958)

Altamiranoa alpina  Fröderström (1936) / Villadia alpina  (Fröderström) H. Jacobsen (1958)

Altamiranoa ramulosa  Fröderström (1936) / Villadia ramulosa  (Fröderström) H. Jacobsen (1960)

Distribution : Mexico (Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala); mountain regions, mostly on rocks, 2000 - 4500 m.

Description (by 't Hart & Bleij in IHSP, 2003) :

Glabrous small herbs or perennial subshrubs, roots tuberous-thickened, stems branched from the base, dying to the base after flowering, or lower parts persistent and becoming woody and branched, at flowering time with compact sterile branches 5 - 10 mm long.

Leaves linear to oblong, subterete or flattened, acute or rounded, spurred, 4 - 15 (-20) x 1 - 2 (-4) mm, green or becoming reddish, often at first glaucous.

Inflorescences : Flowering branches erect or sometimes decumbent and rooting at the nodes, simple or few-branched, smooth or papillose, 5 - 30 cm ; inflorescences usually dense, with 2 to several cincinni, each 2 - 7 cm long with ± 2 - 10 (-15) subsessile flowers, pedicels 0 - 1 (-4) mm.

Flowers : Sepals ± appressed to the corolla, spurred, unequal, 2 - 6 mm, corolla 5 - 8 mm, 6 - 10 mm diameter, petals white or reddish, tube ± as long as the lobes, lobes 3 - 5 x 1,8  - 3,5 mm, mostly spreading or somewhat reflexed, anthers dark.

Cytology: n = 23.

Moran (1998e) provided a broader concept for this species. The oldest name for the taxon is Umbilicus mexicanus Schlechtendal, but since this epithet is pre-occupied by Sedum mexicanum Britton 1899, the epithet of the next younger synonym Altamiranoa goldmanii has to be chosen.