Dudleya variegata is a deciduous succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names variegated liveforever, variegated dudleya or rarely San Diego Hasseanthus. A cryptic plant that survives part of the year dormant underground from starch reserves in a corm, after sufficient rainfall, leaves will emerge, soon giving way to small inflorescences with yellow star-shaped flowers. It is native to Baja California and adjacent San Diego County in California, where it grows in several habitat types, including chaparral and vernal pools.
Dudleya variegata
Numerous Dudleya variegata flowering
Dudleya variegata with its vegetative leaves and rosettes before flowering. Nascent inflorescences are visible in the center of the rosettes
The developing inflorescences
Dudleya, commonly known as liveforevers is a genus of rosette-forming succulent plants in the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, consisting of about 68 taxa in southwestern North America and Guadalupe Island. The species come in many forms, some large and evergreen, others geophytic and deciduous. Yet, despite their dramatic variations in appearance, most species readily hybridize. The flowers of Dudleya have parts numbered in fives, with the petals arranged in tubular, star-shaped, and bell-shaped forms and, when fruiting, are filled with tiny, ovoid-crescent-shaped seeds.
Image: J20171114 0036—Dudleya virens ssp insularis—RPBG—Dx O (37663360805)
Image: Dudleya nesiotica (Santa Cruz Island liveforever) (13998561076)
Image: Dudleya arizonica 1
Image: J20180111 0014—Dudleya farinosa—RPBG—Dx O (25841707838)