Arrrrgh, sedum troubles!

Discussion in 'Cacti and Succulents' started by pwk, Apr 25, 2008.

  1. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    Recently I concluded that my strange green plant was sedum morganium, frequently referred to as burro's tail. Upon further comparison, however, I'm beginning to doubt myself. For one thing, my plant grows up, and then kind of flops over, rather than drooping from the beginning. Another is the (leaf?) structure. The ..leaves.. on mine seem much further spread apart than that of the morganium. (If you search 'sedum morganium' on these forums, you get a thread regarding the same plant as mine, with the exact same issue. What a conundrum!) I'm having a LOT of trouble identifying this sedum.. is it reflexum? fosterianum? I'm completely lost. Every time I google image anything, I get some pictures that look EXACTLY like mine, and some that look like anything but. The closest image I found was referred to as "blue feather sedum", however I can't seem to find any information under that title. Can any one help??

    The first three images are the plant in question.
    The fourth is the mysterious "blue feather" sedum.
    The fifth is the morganium.

    If it helps, I'm beginning to suspect that this plant shouldn't necessarily be grown in a pot (it spreads like CRAZY, would make a good groundcover).

    Also, is there any way to "strengthen up" this plant? I respect it's will to spread its seed and all, but having his little leaflets drop at the slightest touch is getting a little morbid...

    Thanks again, guys!
     

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  2. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    the first one may be a crassula rather than a sedum. regardless, it needs full sun to grow well...if it's a crassula, giving it more sun may cause it to grow in a more compact manner and then it won't flop over like it is now.
     
  3. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    I'm just going to go bang my head against a desk now, haha. You're right, it does look quite a bit like crassula tetragona, but I still can't be sure. I've had this plant (or maybe its mama, or its mama's mama...this thing reproduces like crazzzzzy) for a long time.. about 8 years I beleive. It's lived just about anywhere and everywhere (outside, on a sunny porch during the summer; in a shady window sill; ect.) For the last couple of months, since moving to Montreal, I've had it up on top of my kitchen cabinets, where it didn't get much sun. Surprisingly, I thought it was doing well. It either a.) LOVED the shade, or b.) HATED it and was seeking more sun, lol, so that narrows that down :P. Just recently I gave it a bigger pot and moved it to a sunny window sill, and it doesn't seem as happy as it did before. Whatever it is, it's been virtually indestructible, which is funny to say because the moment anything touches it it drops a bunch of it's leaflets, which usually are already covered in roots. .... what am I talking about again?

    Oh yeah. It looks like crassula tetragona, and I would love for it to be because that's a very interesting plant! My only concern is that the plant I own has never grown upwards, always kinda... loopy and out the sides of the pot (in a non-morganium way of course!). It's very possible that this may be due to my negligence... this whole plant thing is very new to me.
     
  4. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    Quick reply, my butt. I just wrote you a (second) novel. My bad....
     
  5. Cereusly Steve

    Cereusly Steve Active Member

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    Your plant is an old garden hybrid between Sedum morganianum and Sedum pachyphyllum created in California and commonly called "Giant Burro's Tail"

    Your fourth picture is of two former Sedum, now Petrosedum: Petrosedum rupestre (the smaller one) and Petrosedum sediforme (the larger one).

    The last is the real Sedum morganianum.


    None of them are Crassula. Crassula always have paired leaves with pits (hydathodes) on their surface.
     
  6. pwk

    pwk Active Member

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    Thank You So So Soo Much!
     

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