''Reidmorania occidentalis'' is a

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 ...

in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae) native to the state of

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is within the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''Reidmorania'', which is named after botanist

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 ...

, who was notable for his research in the Crassulaceae family.

Description

Morphology

The plant grows in a caespitose habit, with short stems and rosettes around 4.5 cm wide. The leaves are oblanceolate and obtuse, mucronate, glabrous, and bluish green to green. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is paniculate, with floral stems 11 to 36 cm long, bearing 3 to 10

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

. The

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

are ascending, adpressed, ovate, and are colored olive-green, with the corolla tubular-campanulate, 6 to 7 mm long, 4 mm wide at the base, and 7 mm wide at the mouth. The petals are ascending, imbricate, and oblanceolate, keeled, and with three to five faint reddish longitudinal veins, the central darkest, and merging with the cuspidate reddish apex.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic history

The plant was discovered to science in

by a collector J. G. Ortega in 1920. This plant was originally placed as ''Graptopetalum occidentale'', described by Joseph Nelson Rose and Eric Walther in 1933 from the single collection. ''Echeveria kimnachii'' was also described later in 1998 by Jorge Meyrán and Rito Vega, named after botanist

Myron Kimnach Myron of Eleutherae ( grc, Μύρων, ''Myrōn'' ), working c. 480–440 BC, was an Athenian sculptor from the mid-5th century BC. He was born in Eleutherae on the borders of Boeotia and Attica. According to Pliny's '' Natural History'', Agelada ...

. It was placed in the series Paniculatae, compared with '' Echeveria amoena'' and '' Echeveria microcalyx''. Kimnach himself realized the species was synonymous with ''Graptopetalum occidentale'', but noticed that the species did not fit into ''

Graptopetalum ''Graptopetalum'' (leatherpetal) is a plant genus of the family ''Crassulaceae''. They are perennial succulent plants and native to Mexico and Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern ...

'', and thus was moved into the new genus ''Reidmorania'', named after Kimnach's late colleague

Distribution and habitat

This plant is found in the Culiacan municipality in

. It is commonly found in a limited area near the Sierra Tacuichamona. In habitat, It occurs in tropical sub-deciduous forest, associated with '' Agave'', '' Brosimum'', ''

Bursera ''Bursera'' is a genus with about 100 described species of flowering shrubs and trees varying in size up to high. It is the type genus for Burseraceae. The trees are native (often for many species endemic) to the Americas, from the southern Uni ...

'' and ''

Hechtia ''Hechtia'' is a genus of plants in the family Bromeliaceae, and is the sole genus of the subfamily Hechtioideae, containing 75 species. Its species are native to Mexico, Central America, and Texas. The genus is named for Julius Gottfried Conr ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15483629, from2=Q15483422 Crassulaceae Crassulaceae genera Flora of Sinaloa Monotypic Saxifragales genera