Palmer’s liveforever

Cotyledon palmeri S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14: 292. 1879

Caudices somewhat branched apically, (cespitose), to 20 × 1.5-4 cm, axillary branches absent. Leaves: rosettes 12, in clumps, 20-30-leaved, 10-20 cm diam.; blade green, oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 5-20 × 1.5-5 cm, 3-7 mm thick, base 2-4 cm wide, apex acute to subacuminate, surfaces sometimes farinose, not glaucous. Inflorescences: cyme mostly 3-branched, obpyramidal to cylindric; branches not twisted (flowers on topside), simple or 1-2 times bifurcate, (3-7 cm diam.); cincinni 1-3, 7-14-flowered, circinate, 3-7 cm; floral shoots 15-65 × 0.4-1.1 cm; leaves 15-50, spreading, triangular-ovate, 15-30 × 10-20 mm, apex acute. Pedicels erect, not bent in fruit, 2-4(-10) mm. Flowers: calyx 6-7 × 4-8 mm; petals connate 1.5-2 mm, red or bright yellow marked with red and thus appearing orange, 11-16 × 3.5-5 mm, apex acute, tips erect; pistils connivent, erect. Unripe follicles erect. 2n = 136, ca. 170, ca. 238.

Flowering late spring. Cliffs and rocky slopes near coast; 0-100 m; Calif.

Dudleya palmeri occurs on slopes and cliffs from the Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County to the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles County. The populations grouped together, somewhat arbitrarily, as D. palmeri are high polyploids at three levels, on the fringes of the D. cespitosa complex, with wide leaves and red to orange corollas.