Stems with ascending, slender branches, 3-10 mm thick. Leaves: rosettes densely ces-pitose, 10-50-leaved, 2-6(-10) cm diam.; blade green or reddish, rhombic-obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5-5 × 0.8-1.8 cm, rough (especially on margins and keel with peglike or subclavate papillae 0.05-0.1 mm and often narrower), apex with slender apiculum 1-3 mm, surfaces not glaucous. Inflorescences mostly flat cymes; floral stems 0.4-1.8 dm; proximal leaves 2-18 mm; branches mostly 2-5, circinate or not, 1-12-flowered. Pedicels mostly 3-8 mm. Flowers (5-)6-7(-8)-merous; corolla 14-21 mm diam., tube [0.7-]2-3.5 mm, lobes 7-10.5 × 1.2-2.5 mm; pistils not hollowed near base, gradually narrowed to styles 1-1.5 mm. 2n = 62, 63, 64, 66, ca. 93, 124. Flowering late spring. Rock crevices especially on north slopes and on shaded cliffs (at least at lower elevations); [0-]600-1700 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Sonora). Southward in Mexico, the corolla tube in Graptopetalum rusbyi tends to be shorter. The Mexican plants have been confused with G. occidentale Rose of Sinaloa (R. V. Moran 1984).

Plant: perennial herb; ROSETTES densely cespitose, 2-6(-10) cm wide, of 10-35(-50) leaves, on stems 3-10 mm thick Leaves: rhombic-obovate to oblanceolate, acute to acuminate, slender-apiculate, 1.5-5 cm long, 8-18 mm wide, 1-5 mm thick, not glaucous, with peg-like or subclavate papillae ca. as long as thick INFLORESCENCE: FLORAL STEMS 4-18 cm tall, with 5-22 leaves; branches mostly 2-5, spreading, 1-9 cm long, 1-12-flowered; pedicels mostly 3-8 mm long; cymes flat or paniculate, of 2-several one-sided branches Flowers: (5-)6-7(-8)-merous; sepals elliptic, 2.5-6 mm long, to 1.8 mm wide; corolla 14-21 mm wide, the tube in ours 2-3.5 mm long; pistils gradually narrowed to styles 1-1.5 mm long Fruit: FOLLICLES many seeded. SEEDS narrowly ovoid, reddish-brown, striate Misc: Locally common in scattered places, commonly in rock crevices especially on north slopes and on shaded cliffs (at least at lower elevations); 600-1650 m (2000-5400 ft); Apr-Jun REFERENCES: Moran, Reid. 1994. Bixaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 190-194.