''Dudleya candelabrum'' is a species of

succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

known by the common names candleholder liveforever or candleholder dudleya. Endemic to California, this species grows wild only on the northern Channel Islands, where it is found in open rocky places and north-facing slopes. It is characterized by thin, spade-shaped green leaves and an inflorescence covered in long, reflexed

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s, with pale yellow flowers. It has been threatened by poachers shipping plants to South Korea.

Description

This species typically grows from an often solitary basal rosette up to half a meter wide atop a thick, hardy

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

that is swollen at the base. There are 20 to 45 evergreen leaves on the rosette. The leaves are a pale green to pinkish-green, shaped obovate to oblong-oblanceolate, and more or less thin. The leaves may be

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

, and when torn from the rosette, leave a purple-red wound. Each leaf measures anywhere from long by wide, with an acuminate tip. The unbranched

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

is generally erect but often bending under the weight of the inflorescence it holds. The peduncle is usually tall while only wide. The

s are long and reflexed, bending backwards. The lowermost bracts are long. The inflorescence first branches 3 to 7 times, and then those branch another 1 to 2 times. The terminal branches are and hold up to 25 flowers. The flower has pale-yellow petals long within its pink-tinged green sepals. Flowering is from May to July. Chromosome number is 17.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic history

The type specimen was collected by Professor E. L. Greene on Santa Cruz Island, in July and August 1886. The species was described in 1903 with Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose's taxonomic revision of North American Crassulaceae, as part of the creation of the genus '' Dudleya''. Later, German botanists such as

Fedde Fedde is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Elizabeth Fedde (1850–1921), Norwegian Lutheran deaconess and founder of the Norwegian Relief Society * Erick Fedde (born 1993), American Major League Baseb ...

in 1904 and Berger in 1930 would classify it as ''Cotyledon candelabrum'' and ''Echeveria candelabrum'' respectively, but these redefinitions were outdated after

Reid Moran Reid Venable Moran (June 30, 1916 – January 21, 2010) was an American botanist and the curator of botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum from 1957 to 1982. Moran was the world authority on the Crassulaceae, a family of succulent plant ...

's revision of the genus, along with later phylogenetic work that showed ''Dudleya'' as being more closely related to '' Sedum'' than to '' Echeveria''.

Characteristics

Reid Moran noted the resemblance of the plant to the green

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...

of '' Dudleya brittonii''. Phylogenetic analysis has show that it is instead related to '' Dudleya acuminata'', a geographically distant plant that shares the trait of shiny green leaves. Despite the characteristic green leaves, however, some individuals may instead have white, glaucous leaves, which makes them difficult to distinguish from the polymorphic '' Dudleya greenei.'' The two may be keyed by the fact that ''D. candelabrum'' is found in steep, inland to coastal canyons, on often north-facing or shaded cliffs, or on deeper soils than ''D. greenei'', and the fact that ''D. candelabrum'' has long, reflexed bracts.

Distribution and habitat

''Dudleya candelabrum'' is endemic to the Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. It occurs on rocky, north-facing slopes below 1,200 ft.

Conservation

In 2020, social media posts indicated that numerous plants were poached from California and destined for South Korea.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Dudleya candelabrum''USDA Plants Profile; Dudleya candelabrum''Dudleya candelabrum'' - Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5312050

candelabrum A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...

Endemic flora of California Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Taxa named by Joseph Nelson Rose Flora without expected TNC conservation status