Panamint liveforever
Dudleya saxosa
This plant uses Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis, opening its stomata only at night to capture carbon dioxide, which prevents water loss during the blistering heat of the day.
- Scientific name
- Dudleya saxosa
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Saxifragales › Crassulaceae › Dudleya
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- desert
- Habitat
- Arid rocky slopes, vertical canyon walls, and mountain crevices in desert environments.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (produces energy from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water).
- Range
- Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert
- Size
- Rosettes 5 to 20 cm wide, with flowering stalks rising up to 40 cm.
- Lifespan
- Up to 50 to 100 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Climate change, prolonged drought, and localized poaching for the exotic plant trade.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. Panamint liveforever poses no physical danger to humans. However, their desert cliffside habitats are extremely fragile. Observe them from designated trails to avoid causing rockslides or crushing wild specimens. Never harvest or poach wild succulents, as many Dudleya species are heavily targeted by illegal plant trade.
Dudleya saxosa is a perennial succulent desert plant in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), commonly called live-forever' .:84 This dudleya is native to the rocky slopes of the Peninsular Ranges and the sky islands in Mojave Desert mountains, such as the Panamint Range, in Southern California, and in Baja California and Arizona.
Photo: Grant Mullen, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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