Sedum

BERILLONANUM   Hamet, 1914

Synonyms :

Altamiranoa berillonana  Berger (1930)

Villadia berillonana (Hamet) Baehni & Macbride (1937)

Type : Weberbauer 5501, collected May 1910, near Ayacucho, Prov. Huamanga, Dept. Ayacucho, Peru, 3000 -3200 m.

Etymology : Named for he French psychiatrist Dr Edgar Bérillon.

Distribution : Peru (Dept. Ayacucho & Dept. Cusco).

 

Description by G. Pino in Cactus and Succulent Journal US 89(4), 189 - 191. 2017 :

A succulent glabrous herb growing on moss, forming dense mats up to 30 - 40 cm diam., basally branching, 10 - 15 cm tall.

Basal stem decumbent, 8 - 15 cm long, 3.5 - 6 mm thick, grey brownish.

Roots fibrous.

Primary branches 4 - 8, decumbent or curved upwards, rooting along the sides, 4 - 15 cm long, grey- brownish.

Vegetative shoots erect, 1 - 6 cm long, flowering shoots 10 - 18 cm long, erect or pendent then curved upwards at apex, reddish green.

Leaves succulent, spirally attached, densely imbricate at proximal half and on young shoots, sessile, semi-ampexicaul, ovoid to oblong, 4 - 7.5  mm long, 3 - 4 mm wide, 2.5 - 3.5 mm thick, apex obtuse to subacute, upper side flat to convex in the dry season, both sides convex in the rainy season, dull green with minute reddish spots where exposed, margins entire.

Inflorescence terminal, with 1 - 2 distal short cincinnoid branches 1 - 2 cm long, light green with minute reddish dots or lines, each branch with 3 - 4 flowers.

Flowers : Sepals narrowly ovate, obtuse, 2 - 5 mm long, light green with reddish dots at distal half, petals 6 - 8 mm long, 2 - 2,5 mm wide, folded outwards at the distal third, outside white with a greenish white keel, inside pure white, anthers yellow.

Flowering time : May - August.

 

Sedum berillonanum is close to S. isidorum and S. decipiens from the North of Peru and S. jujuyense from the North of Argentina.

 

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