Dudleya densiflora

Caudices to 2 dm × 1-2.5 cm, clumps to 3 dm diam. Leaves without resinous odor; rosette 20-40-leaved, 7-25 cm diam.; blade green, appearing whitish, linear, terete or subterete, base flattened, 6-15(-23) × 0.6-1.2 cm, 5-8 mm thick, 1-1.5 times wider than thick, base 10-20 mm wide, surfaces farinose, not viscid, not oily. Inflorescences: cyme 3-5-branched, rounded, (1.5-3 × 0.4-1 dm); branches usually 1-2 times bifurcate; cincinni 2-8-flowered, scarcely circinate, 2-4 cm; floral shoots 1-3 dm × 2-4 mm; leaves 5-15, erect, lanceolate, 1-4 × 0.5-1.2 cm. Pedicels 2-5 mm. Flowers: petals spreading from middle, connate 0.5-2 mm, white or pinkish, narrowly ovate, 5-10 × 2-3 mm, apex acute, corolla 12-20 mm diam.; pistils erect, 6-9 mm; styles 2-3.5 mm. Follicles widely spreading, with adaxial margins 10-45º above horizontal. 2n = 34.

Flowering spring. Cliffs and steep rocky slopes; of conservation concern; 100-600 m; Calif.

Dudleya densiflora is a distinct endemic that is very local and now rare at the south base of the San Gabriel Mountains near the mouth of San Gabriel Canyon; it is considered seriously threatened (California Native Plant Society, http://cnps.web.aplus.net/cgi-bin/inv/inventory.cgi).

Dudleya densiflora is in the Center for Plant Conservation´s National Collection of Endangered Plants.