Native plant identification key for the
Palos Verdes Peninsula, California

Succulents

Herbaceous plants (non-woody, though there may be a woody caudex or basal stem and root -- annual growth dies back each year, resprouting in perennial or biennial plants, or the plant dies and is replaced by a new generation each year in the case of annual plants)

• Extremely tiny plant, ~2-6 cm tall; leaves ovate (egg-shaped), ~1-3 mm long; obtuse (blunt) or acute tips; leaves arranged in pairs opposite one another = Crassula connata (pygmy stonecrop)
• Leaves are scales on stems, triangular in shape, alternate and overlapping arrangement; pseudosucculent root-parasite = Orobanche californica (California orobanche)
• Leaves nearly completely missing, reduced to minute scales, paired opposite one another at stem joints, often clasping to form a ring at the joints. Stems are green, round in cross-section, ~2-3 mm across = Salicornia subterminalis (pickleweed)
• Leaves in a basal rosette, fleshy, lanceolate (much longer than wide):
  • Leaves silver-green/pale green = Duddleya lanceolata (longleaf live-forever)
  • Leaves mostly bright or yellow green = Duddleya virens (bright green live-forever)
• Leaves cauline (along stems, rather than in a basal rosette):
  • Leaves linear/oblanceolate (very thin or much longer than wide but widening toward the tip), entire (smooth margins):
    • Leaves alternate (not opposite), usually w/ fascicles of smaller leaves in the axils (where leaves join stems), sessile (attached directly to the stems without a petiole or leaf stalk), ~0.8-4.5 cm long, greyish-green, glabrous (smooth surfaces) = Oligomeris linifolia (oligomeris)
    • Leaves opposite, 2-4 cm long, crowded, sessile (attached directly to the stems without a petiole or leaf stalk) = Spergularia marina (salt marsh sand surrey)
  • Leaves ovate (egg-shaped, wider at the base), cuneate (wedge-shaped, wider at the tip), cordate (heart-shaped, wider at the base), or obovate (egg- shaped but wider toward the tip); glabrous (smooth-surfaced); entire (not lobed or divided into leaflets); ~0.8-5 cm long; alternate (not opposite one another); sessile (attached directly to the stems without a petiole or leaf stalk) = Aphanisma blitoides (San Diego coastalcreeper)
  • Leaves cuneate (wedge-shaped, wider at tip), obtuse (blunt) tip, ~1-4 cm long, ~1-2 cm wide, alternate; short petiole; slightly concave upward = Heliotropium curassavicum (heliotrope)
  • Leaves spatulate (a broad leaf widening toward the tip) or ovate (egg-shaped); obtuse/slightly notched tip; ~0.5-4 cm long; opposite; convex upward = Sessuvium verrucosum (sea-purslane)

Shrubs (woody plants with multiple stems branching out from the base or near it, rarely taller than ~6 m)

• Leaves linear (long and thin) or oblanceolate (much longer than wide, but wider toward the tip), cylindrical/fleshy in cross-section, glabrous (smooth surface), bright green, entire (smooth margins), ~0.3-1 cm long, in alternating whorls (clusters of > 2 leaves coming out of the same node), nearly sessile (connecting nearly directly to the stem with a very short petiole stalk)= Lycium californicum (box thorn)
• Leaves linear (long and thin), lanceolate (much longer than wide, but wider toward the base), or short elliptic (symmetrical oval, tapering roughly equally toward base and tip), fleshy/rounded in cross-section; entire (smooth margins); ~1-3.5 cm long; glaucous (smooth surface covered with an easily removed whitish powder or resin, like a blueberry or grape); light green to white = Suaeda taxifolia (seablite)
• Leaves oblanceolate (much longer than wide, wider toward the tip) or spatulate (somewhat longer than wide, wider toward the tip), entire (smooth margins), fleshy/plate-like in cross-section, ~0.5-1.5 cm long, in alternating whorls (clusters of >2 leaves coming out of a node), almost sessile (leaves connect to the stems almost directly, with almost no petiole stalk), sometimes a prominent midrib running the length of the leaf, pubescent (slightly hairy or downy), olive or blue-grey = Lycium brevipes (Santa Catalina desert box thorn)

Cacti (distinctive succulents, which photosynthesize through their water-swollen stems and have leaves reduced to spines)

• Platyclades (spiny stem segments are fleshy and plate-like in cross- section):
  • Nearly round, elliptic, narrowly ovate (egg-shaped, wider toward base) or obovate (egg-shaped, wider toward tip), 12-22 cm long, densely spiny, whorls of 4-11 long spines (~2-4 cm long) arranged in an almost perfectly rectangular pattern on the platyclades = Opuntia littoralis (prickly pear)
  • Elliptic to round, usually 16-25 cm long, but some very large: ~30 cm long by 15 cm wide, generally larger than the similar O. littoralis, less densely spiny than O. oricola, whorls of 5-16 spines usually ~2- 2.5 cm long, whorls spaced in a nearly perfect rectangular grid on the platyclades, but the spacing among them is wider than seen in O. littoralis = Opuntia oricola (chaparral prickly pear)
• Cylindrical stem segments up to 15 cm long and 2-3 cm thick; detach easily; densely spiny, with 4-12 rusty-yellow spines ~1-2 cm long coming out of a tubercle or bump (~1-2 cm long, half as broad), tubercles in a grid-like pattern covering the stem segments = Cylindropuntia prolifera (coast cholla)

First placed on web: 07/29/11
Last revised: 07/30/11
Christine M. Rodrigue, Ph.D., Department of Geography, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840-1101
rodrigue@csulb.edu

The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography, introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various editions of this key.