Verity's liveforever facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Verity's liveforever |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Dudleya
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| Species: |
verityi
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The Dudleya verityi is a special kind of succulent plant. People often call it Verity's liveforever. This plant is only found in Ventura County, California. It grows in just a few spots near Conejo Mountain, between the towns of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. There might be a few more places where it grows that haven't been officially recorded yet.
Contents
What Does It Look Like?
This plant is a juicy, green plant that lives for many years. It grows from a thick, branching stem called a caudex, which can be several centimeters long. Its leaves grow in a circle at the bottom, like a rosette. Each leaf is long and narrow, often pointed, and can be up to 5 centimeters (about 2 inches) long. The leaves feel waxy and are usually a pale grayish or pinkish-green color.
The plant also grows a tall flower stalk, up to 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) high. This stalk has small, leaf-like parts called bracts. At the top, the stalk branches out, and each branch holds several bright yellow flowers. Each flower has thick, triangle-shaped parts at its base, and its petals are a little over a centimeter long.
Where Does It Live?
This Dudleya plant often grows near mosses and lichens. It sometimes grows in layers of a specific type of lichen called Niebla ceruchoides. This lichen might help catch water for the Dudleya's seeds when they fall. This plant can also mix with other types of Dudleya plants, like Dudleya blochmaniae, creating new kinds of plants.
You can only find Dudleya verityi on one edge of the Santa Monica Mountains. It lives in a special area called coastal sage scrub. The main plants in this area are California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), and purple sage (Salvia leucophylla). At least two of the places where this plant grows are on the campus of California State University, Channel Islands.
Why Is It Important to Protect It?
The Dudleya verityi is listed by the government as a threatened species. This means it's in danger of disappearing. The biggest threats to this plant are losing its home because of new buildings, mining, and projects to control floods.
A big fire called the Springs Fire in 2013 almost wiped out this plant. The many years of dry weather that followed, known as the California drought, made it very hard for the plant to recover. Sadly, in 2019, some people were caught trying to steal these plants, which is also a big problem for their survival.
Images for kids
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Flowering.
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Detail of the flowers.
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A caespitose clump.
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Growing with licen.
