LAXUM ssp. HECKNERI (Peck) Clausen, 1942

Synonyms :

Sedum heckneri  Peck (1937)

Sedum laxum var. heckneri  (Peck) Ohba (2007)

Distribution : Western USA (California: Klamath Mts., southern Siskiyou Mts.) ; on serpentine, 150 - 1770 m.

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

Differs from ssp. laxum :

Leaves relatively thick.

Inflorescences : Leaves of flowering branches cordate, clasping the stem, nearly suborbicular, pedicels of basal flowers 4 - 7 mm.

Flowers : Petals pink, white or yellowish-white, anthers yellow.

Cytology: 2n = 30.

Ray Stephenson (Sedum, Cultivated Stonecrops, 1994, p 201) :

Sedum laxum ssp. heckneri has an inflorescence that is reflexed in bud. Leaves of this subspecies are spathulate (Leaf shapes, fig. 5g), and those of the inflorescence are round, cordate, sessile, and stem-clasping. Pink or white flowers are produced early in summer and have yellow anthers. Petals of this subspecies are very distinct for they spread for the upper third. Of the four subspecies in the group, this one has the greatest range in the wild, and therefore is the most variable: Klamath and Trinity rivers of northern California, over the complete altitudinal range of the species.

See also A review of Sedum section Gormania (Crassulaceae) in western North America, in Phytotaxa 368 (1): 1-61, 2018.