Flora-Fauna

Sedum laconicum Boiss. & Heldr.

First published in Diagnoses Plantarum Orientalium 6: 55 (1846)
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. LXVIII nº 4; 1969)

• Life-form & habit: Glabrous perennial succulent forming dense mats of sterile shoots and short flowering stems 4–10 cm tall.

• Leaves: 5–8 mm long, rounded to broadly linear or narrowly ellipsoid, somewhat fleshy and greenish-glaucous.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Terminal cyme small, often preceded by one or two small axillary cymes of 1–3 flowers. Petals 3–4 mm, apiculate-aristate, pale yellow with a reddish median nerve; stamens 10; carpels erect-spreading; styles long and slender.

• Fruit: Follicles divergent, containing several small smooth seeds.

• Phenology: Flowers from May to July.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocky slopes and old stone walls; typically between 900 – 1 800 m.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Beskinta, Anna Bakich, Cedars of Hadeth, Jabal Qammoua, Ouadi Qalaʿat Arrouba, Jabal Jaj, Zahlé, Machghara, and Qalaʿat ech-Chekif.

• Native range: East Aegean Islands, Greece, Kriti, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Palestine, Türkiye (POWO).

• ⚠️ Taxonomic note: A small yellow-flowered stonecrop of the eastern Mediterranean mountains, distinct from S. sediforme by its low stature, smaller cymes, and short leaves; Lebanese specimens show intermediate forms with S. album in mixed habitats.