Species

Sedum acre

Common Name(s)

stone crop

Family

Crassulaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

SEDACR

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Habitat

Terrestrial. A plant that grows on gravel, shingle, sand, rocks and most light porous substrates from sea level to nearly 1500m (Webb et. al. 1988). A plant of coastal cliffs, behind beaches, on walls and banks, roadsides, riverbeds, railway tracks and embankments and waste places in and around settlements (Webb et. al. 1988).

Features

Glabrous, often mat-forming, perennial herb with creeping stems freely rooting at nodes and numerous short erect sterile and flowering stems. Leaves alternate, sessile, densely arranged up the erect stems, imbricate but not in terminal rosettes, 4~5 x 2.5~3mm, approx. 1.5mm thick, broadly cordate-ovate, convex above and below, entire, green or yellowish-green but old leaves persisting and white; apex obtuse. Infl. terminal, < 1.5cm long, a short open cyme .5~3cm across and with 1~3 branches, each with up to 4 flowers and a leaf-like bract. Flowers sessile or subsessile, secund. Sepals unequal, 3~4mm long, broad-ovate and very similar to leaves. Petals 5, generally patent, 6.5~7.5 x 3mm(approx.), ovate-elliptic, yellow, acute. Stamens 5~6mm long, yellow. Carpels and styles yellow. Scales semi-lunate to rectangular. Follicles yellow, widely divergent. Seed .5~.8mm long, narrowly ellipsoid or ellipsoid-obovoid, longitudinally ribbed. (-Webb et. al., 1988)

Similar Taxa

A mat-forming perennial herb, with creeping stems that root at the nodes and numerous short erect sterile and flowering stems (Webb et. al. 1988). The leaves are alternate, densely arranged, small and scale like (Webb et. al. 1988). The inflorescence occurs at the end of the erect stems and is less than 1.5cm long (Webb et. al. 1988). The flowers have 5 petals and are yellow (Webb et. al. 1988). A plant with an acrid taste (Webb et. al. 1988).

Flowering

November, December, January, February, March

Flower Colours

Yellow

Year Naturalised

1904

Origin

Eur, W Asia, N Africa

Reason For Introduction
Ornamental

Life Cycle Comments
Perennial.

Seed
Seed is formed freely (Webb et. al. 1988).

This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010