Dudleya

Does anyone out there know which species of Dudleya inhabit the Coastal Sage Scrub areas of San Diego, I`ve encountered two different species in a canyon about 1 mile inland from the coast. Thanks</p>

There are a number of species native to San Diego, with D. pulverulenta, lanceolata, and edulis probably being the most common. However, there are many other species as well, such as blochmanae, brevifolia, multicaulis, and viscida. An excellent resource is Mitch Beauchamp`s A Flora of San Diego County. Hope this helps.</p>

As Greg pointed out, there are quite a few Dudleya species in San Diego. Dudleya pulverulenta is common and its common name is chalk leaved dudleya as the triangular leaves produce a white powdery substance that comes off on your hands like a chalk. Plants can be fairly large across up to 12'?. D.lanceolata is generally a smaller diameter plant with lance shaped linear leaves. D.edulis has a common name of ladies fingers as the plant has many upright leaves about the size of a pinky finger. D.visida looks similar to D.edulis except the leaves are flat on the top and a bit more floppy in the plants I have seen. D.variegata is small and has a variegated red stem and yellow flowers. I have rarely seen the small leaves as the ones I have seen have dried up leaves by the time they flower. D.brevifolia is small end of a small thumb size or smaller with multiple leaveswith white flowers. It occurs on soils with round concretions about the size of the plant at Torrey Pines State Park and Extension, in Crest Canyon, on Carmel Mountain and Skeleton Canyon ?. D. blochmaniae grows I believe in north county and looks similar to D.brevifolia. Hope that helps. The Flowering Plants of Santa Monica has pictures of some of the species.</p>