ANNUUM L., 1753
Synonyms :
Enchylus annuus (L.) Ehrhart (1789) / Etiosedum annuum (L.) A.Löve & D.Löve (1985)
Sedum parnassicum Boissier & Heldreich in sched. (s.a.)
Sedum rupestre Oeder (1770)
Sedum oederi Retzius (1779)
Sedum saxatile G.H.Weber ex F.H.Wiggers (1780)
Sedum aestivum Allioni (1785)
Sedum saxatile Willdenow (1799)
Sedum divaricatum Lapeyrouse (1813)
Sedum annuum var. perdurans Murbeck (1892)
Sedum zollikoferi F.Hermann & Stefanoff (1935)
Sedum hewittii Chamberlain (1972) / Oreosedum hewittii (Chamberlain) Grulich (1984)
Distribution : Northern Europe, Iceland, most of the mountain ranges of central and southern Europe and throughout Anatolia and Iran; gravelly places, to 3000 m.
Description (according to 't Hart & Bleij in IHSP 2003) :
Glabrous erect annual or rarely biennial herbs to 12 (- 20) cm tall, with simple stems or branched from the base.
Leaves alternate, sessile with a short broad truncate spur, oblong-elliptic to linear-elliptic, to 6 mm, obtuse or rounded, terete to subterete, bright green.
Inflorescences lax cymes with (3-) 5 - 15 (-25) flowers on (1-) 2 (-3) monochasial branches, rarely with subsidiary inflorescence, bracts 2 per flower.
FIowers 5-merous, subsessile or on short pedicels, sepals broadly sessile, unequal, oblong-elliptic, to 3 mm, obtuse or rounded, petals oblanceolate to elliptic, ± 5 mm, acute to acuminate, yellow, sometimes tinged with red, filaments yellow, anthers yellow.
Cytology : 2n = 22
The var. perdurans is a perennial variant with decumbent branches that root in the soil, occuring sporadically in populations in the Balkan mountains and the Carpathians. The species belongs to the comparium of Ser. Alpestria Berger.
Ray Stephenson explains : "Sedum annuum is extremely variable. I have found this species as far east as Mount Ararat on the Azerbaijan Border and know it grows well on the coast of northern Norway.
This species can show tremendous variation in a single colony.
After seeing such contrasting clones in Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece I think it is an extremely difficult species to describe."