This is one of four sspp. of Dudleya cymosa in Southern California, one which is confined to the Transverse Ranges of the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos.  It arises from a caudex usually 3/8" to 3/4" wide with a stem that has 0 to few branches.  The leaves are glabrous and fleshy like other Dudleyas, are crowded in a basal rosette and reduced upward, and are diamond-shaped-oblanceolate to spoon-shaped with short-
acuminate to sharp tips.  The floral stems are slender, somewhat reddish and 2"-10" tall, and what really distinguishes this species from the larger D. lanceolata which it otherwise resembles is that the terminal inflorescence branches are from 3/8" to 1-1/8" long (mostly toward the shorter dimension), as opposed to from 1" to 4-1/2".  Each inflorescence is 3-6-flowered with bright yellow to red petals.  This species can be found on rocky cliffs and slopes to 7500', blooming from April to July.  These pictures were taken on the Mt. Wilson Trail above Sierra Madre.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Dudleya 2) cymosa 3) pumila.
Pronunciation: DUD-lee-a sy-MO-sa sy-MO-sa PEW-mil-a.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.