Bluff Lettuce

Scientific Name:
Dudleya farinosa

Found On

Bird Island Trail, Coal Chute Trail, Cypress Grove Trail, Granite Point Trail, South Shore Trail
Description

Also known as “powdery liveforever,” it grows on rocky areas near the coast. It has oval, pointed leaves ranging from red to gray-green that form rosettes, and a tall, pinkish red or green stem with yellow flowers from May to September.

More Information: This plant is a succulent, which means it stores a lot of water inside thick, fleshy leaves. Succulents are typically found in hot, dry climates but this species lives on sea bluffs.

Fun Facts

Bluff lettuce, or Dudleya, is named for a botany professor at Stanford who studied it in the late 1800s. The nickname “liveforever” comes from the fact that it can live 15–20 years—quite long for a plant!

Nature Topics
Plants and Geology, Geology

Habitat

Feeding

Bluff lettuce, a small succulent plant with red-edged green leaves grows from a crack in a rocky cliff near the coast, surrounded by pale gray stone.

Photo credit: ©Steven Sherwood

Bluff Lettuce relies on

  • Line drawing on the sun

    Sun

  • Line drawing of a water drop

    Water

  • Line drawing of a plant above ground and its roots below ground

    Nutrients