Abstract:
Apart from two present-day centres of
high species diversity, one in southern Africa and
the other in Mexico, the Crassulaceae, a large
family of mainly herbaceous leaf succulents, is
also well-represented in Europe in terms of both
genera and species. One of these genera, the predominantly
continental European genus Sedum
L., has for a long time been acknowledged as in
need of being split into smaller, more homogenous
genera. The recent implementation of some of
these taxonomic proposals is here applied to the
crassuloid taxa of continental Portugal (islands
excluded), with particular reference to Petrosedum
Grulich. An updated and expanded checklist
of the genera and species of Crassulaceae occurring
in Portugal is provided, along with notes on
differences between Sedum and Petrosedum.
Thirty-six species of Crassulaceae are now recorded for Portugal (continent, excluding islands),
of which 14 are introduced.
