MISERA (Lindley) R.T.Clausen, 1959
Synonyms :
Sedum miserum Lindley (1838)
Cotyledon parviflora Hemsley (1878) / Villadia parviflora Rose (1903) / Altamiranoa parviflora H.Jacobsen (1955)
Distribution : Mexico (border region Coahuila / Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, México, Tlaxcala, Puebla).
Description (according to J. Thiede in IHSP, 2003) :
Herbs.
Roots thickened.
Stems annual, erect, simple or somewhat branched, 20 - 40 x 0.2 – 0.3 cm, decumbent if longer.
Leaves oblong, appressed, lower leaves terete, scattered, upper leaves ovate-linear to linear-lanceolate, obscurely cylindrical, 10 - 20 mm, congested.
Inflorescences dense thyrses, 4 - 30 x 0.8 - 1.5 cm, with 20 - 70 short congested scorpioid branches with 1 – 3 flowers each.
Flowers : Sepals leaf-like, fleshy, almost equal, 2 - 5 x 1 - 2 mm, petals ovate, almost hidden between the sepals, dorsally roughly keeled, 3 - 4 x 1 - 2 mm, white to somewhat rose-coloured, tube ± 1 mm, lobes erect, ovate, acute, somewhat cucullate, subapically conspicuously aristate.
Cytology : n = 33, 42-44, 48-49
A cytologically variable species which needs further study. Clausen (1940) cites a collection of V. parviflora from Arizona, but this is based on cultivated material with possibly erroneous locality data. Calderon de Rzedowski (1974) indicates a geographical range (without citing specimens) to Oaxaca. McDonald (1990) cites 2 specimens from the border region Coahuila/Nuevo Leon, not far north of the type locality of V. stricta in Zacatecas. This could, after further checking, make it necessary to include the latter species (see there) as a further synonym.