Verity’s dudleya

Caudices branched apically, (cespitose), 2-10 × 0.2-1 cm, axillary branches absent. Leaves: rosettes 25-100+, in clumps, 6-10-leaved, 2-8 cm diam.; blade blue-green, oblong-lanceolate, 2-5 × 0.4-0.8 cm, 2-3 mm thick, base 0.5-0.8 cm wide, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces not farinose, glaucous. Inflorescences: cyme mostly 2-3-branched, obpyramidal; branches not twisted (flowers on topside), simple or 1-2 times bifurcate, (3-6 cm diam.); cincinni 1-3, 2-10-flowered, circinate, 2-5 cm; floral shoots 3-15 × 0.3-0.6 cm; leaves 5-20, ascending, lanceolate, 8-10 × 5-7 mm, apex acute. Pedicels ascending to erect, not bent in fruit, 3-5 mm. Flowers: calyx 4-5 × 5-7 mm; petals connate 1-2 mm, bright yellow with greenish midribs, 10-14 × 2.5-4 mm, apex sharply acute, tips outcurved; pistils connivent, erect. Unripe follicles erect. 2n = 34.

Flowering late spring. North-facing volcanic rocks; of conservation concern; ca. 100 m; Calif.

Dudleya verityi forms clumps to 4 dm in diameter and is known from near Mount Conejo in the Santa Monica Mountains; it is considered to be seriously threatened (California Native Plant Society, http://cnps.web.aplus.net/cgi-bin/inv/inventory.cgi). It hybridizes in nature with D. blochmaniae subsp. blochmaniae.