by L. M. Moe

The "Plant" of the month for January, 2004 was the family Crassulaceae. In February, 2004 the plant of the month was Crassula, the largest genus in the family. The next largest genus in the family is Sedum (Stonecrops).

There have been about 280 Sedum species described that are perennial herbs to small shrubs (S. dendroideum in Mexico), most of which are succulent and are found in north temperate to tropical mountains. There are about 16 species in California, one in kern County. Sedums hybridize quite easily with Echeveria, causing some confusion with names. The leaves of sedums are mostly tightly whorled and can be light silvery gray, bright green, dark green, bluish or even red. This can vary depending on the amount of sun or the coolness of the temperatures. Sedums have small flowers with 5-pointed petals that vary from white to bright yellow or occasionally red or pink.

Some stonecrops are trailing and grow well in hanging baskets (e.g., S morganianum), others grow well in rock gardens (e.g., S. brevifolium) and some make nice ground cover plants (e.g., S. album). A nice sedum from California (S. spathulifolium) with blue-green leaves with reddish margins is quite drought tolerant and grows well in Bakersfield rock gardens.

Sedums are very easy to propagate as almost any tiny leaf or piece of stem that touches the ground will root. Some types become rather invasive but are easy to control since the roots are never very deep. To grow most of these in Bakersfield, they must be protected in winters and summers.

Sedum: Cultivated Stonecrops By Ray Stephenson, Timber Press 1994 is a good book on cultivated Sedums (It may be in our library, but I haven’t checked). A good internet site for photos is the Sedum Society at:

www.cactus-mall.com/sedum/