I believe it is part of the succulent family, but could be wrong! It has grown so much that I need to support it with a stick, but wondered what would happen if I just let it flop down naturally? How do they grow in the wild?
Thanks once more, Chris. DGuertin - don't be mislead! I took the picture at 9pm last night! It sits on the hottest windowsill I have, which gets sunlight all day long and is sweltering in the summer!
There is no such thing as a "succulent family". Succulent plants are found in a wide variety of plant families. The plant is definitely Senecio kleiniiformis. The plant definitely needs much more light. A south facing window would be best. The plant does not need to be hot. You don't want to have it somewhere that is too hot. You will need a fan to circulate the air. Don't over water the plant. A thorough watering once a week should be enough.
Agree with DGuertin and Cereusly Steve; I grow this plant and it really really does need a lot more light than it's getting, but not necessarily lots of heat. With adequate light, it forms tight growth with all the leaves much closer together. The stems will tend to flop eventually, or become postrate (I see you have it tied to a stake); I'm guessing it's a way for the plant to distribute seeds farther from the parent plant especially since the flowers grow on a long thin stalk (it looks like some weird alien!) but haven't checked on that so it's only a guess. The stems can be cut down and easily re-root if kept in a bit of slightly moist soil, so it's easy to re-start these plants. And new shoots come from the cut stem, so don't toss it out!
Senecio kleiniiformis is believed to be a garden hybrid between S. articulatus and a cylindrical leafed species. It is usually sterile but there are also fertile clones of it.
