WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Look in cracks in dry, exposed boulders for clumps of these dainty succulent with whitish-pink, star-shaped flowers. The showy, white flowers form flat-topped clusters on 1 1/2–7 3/4-inch (4–20 cm) tall stems growing from a compact rosette of fleshy, slightly flat leaves.

FLOWERS: June–September. Flat-topped clusters have 5/8–3/4-inch wide (15-20 mm) flowers with 5 white to pink-tinged petals, each oval to lance-shaped, pointed, 1/4–3/8-inch (6–9 mm) long; petals spread outward from base (not half-way up); 5 unequal sepals are shorter than petals, 10 stamens have white to reddish or brown filaments and brown anthers. Flowers have no odor.

LEAVES: Dense basal rosette; stem leaves alternate, crowded. Basal blades succulent, slightly flat (not cylindric), oval to spatula-shaped, 1/4-inch (1–6 mm) long. Alternate stem leaves narrow, linear to elliptic, flattish to cylindric, succulent, 1/4–3/4-inch (5–18 mm) long; deciduous after flowering.

HABITAT: Gravelly soils, especially granite derived, rocky outcrops; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,700–10,600 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Huachuca Mountain Stonecrop, Sedum stelliforme, in sw NM mountains, has whitish-pink flowers but cylindric leaves. Wright’s Stonecrop, S. wrightii, in central and southern NM mountains, has flattened leaves, flowers with a pungent, musky odor, and erect petals that spread outward one-half way toward the tip.

NM COUNTIES: Throughout NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation, rocky habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.