Flora of New Zealand Series

Glabrous, much-branched, perennial herb often forming dense low mounds up to c. 1 m across; stems creeping or sprawling, often rooting at nodes, decumbent, ± woody at base. Lvs alternate, sessile or subsessile, mainly situated towards the apices with the distal ones forming terminal rosettes, usually 1.5-3.3 × 1-2.7 cm and 1-3 mm thick, elliptic, broad-elliptic, elliptic- obovate, or suborbicular, flat, entire, shining green, sometimes with reddish brown flush on upper side and on margins towards the rounded apex. Infl. a terminal, rather compact corymbose panicle with short erect to spreading branches, usually 4-6 cm high and 2- c. 6 cm across; bracts small and caducous, the lowest pair leaflike. Fls c. 15-50, subsessile or with short pedicels, secund. Sepals somewhat unequal, 2.5-4.3 mm long, elliptic or elliptic-oblong. Petals 5, patent, 4-6 × 2-3 mm, triangular, lanceolate or ovate, yellow, acute. Stamens 3-4.5 mm long, yellow. Carpels and styles yellow. Scales ± rectangular, often emarginate. Follicles not seen.

S.: Nelson City, Goose Bay (S. of Kaikoura), Port Hills and other parts of Banks Peninsula.

Probably Mexico 1988

Roadside banks and hillside slopes near gardens, often amongst grass and other low herbs.

FL Aug-Dec.

S. decumbens is a commonly cultivated stonecrop in private and public gardens often being used for border edges or to clothe banks and rock walls. It is in the same group of Mexican sedums as S. praealtum, but the latter is much taller, its branches thicker and more woody and its lvs much thicker. S. decumbens is likely to be confused with the cultivated S. palmei S. Watson but this has ± glaucous lvs. Plants now treated as S. decumbens have previously been included within a broader concept of S. confusum Hemsley, but S. confusum sens. strict. has orange-yellow fls in panicles more like those of S. praealtum.