reminds me of a cat tail

by Emma
(California)

It's green and has these thorn looking leaves sprouting upwards and it curls like a cats tail, do you know what it is?

Drought Smart Plants reply:

Hi Emma, I'm glad you reposted this as there was an issue (too much traffic on the server, maybe?) when I went to publish it, it went off into the ozone!

Anyway, I'm feeling that what you have is actually Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce' or something similar - it's so hard to tell the scale (how big it actually is) that I'm not 100% sure.

Sadly, if that is what you have, I'm sorry to say that you have a bloom stalk, which if you're lucky it will root, but probably not grow.

What you can try is to cut it off right at the bottom (say 2" long or so) and then root that.

It's likely in that case that there will be some vegetative buds which will turn into more of the leaves, not the flowers.

One thing I did see was that you have it in water; if you look on the page on succulent plant propagation you'll see why I recommend letting these types of plants almost completely dry out while they root.

Hope that helps you to care for your new plant - who knows? We may have a new succulent plant addict here.

Best of luck,
Jacki

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May 03, 2011

Still unknown
by: Emma

Hi Jacki, that happened to me too, the first time i posted this it went nowhere then i tried again and it never got accepted and so i tried it a third time. They say the third time is the charmed...

It has roots, my coworker dug it out and brought it too me, so i put it in water to keep it moist until i can repot it. It is about a foot long and has mini buds.

Its not the Sedum reflexum "blue Spruce" it is the Reflexum "Sandy's Silver Crest" although the one you have on your page looks greener and different than the pictures that come up on google...
-Emma

May 03, 2011

Sandys Silver Crest!
by: Jacki

That is excellent Emma - that's a great little plant. Keep in mind that it does change a lot over the seasons, in some cases you'll think it's reverted back to green, and then gets the white tips again in the spring.

Some plants, and Sedum in general are like this, change depending on their growing conditions, temperature, soil type, everything.

Thanks for posting back, and I'm glad your persistence paid off!

Jul 03, 2011

Sedum Morganianum??
by: Carol

Hi Emma,
I grow a few similar varieties but have found that the Sedum Morganianum when it has dried out tends to look very similar to what you have. It was a really good suggestion to let it heal over then plant it (they don't like swimming). Some of my Sedum morganianums are very blue in colour and yet another pot can be very green. The ones that have dried out -- fallen off and were not noticed for a few weeks have looked very similar. Just check it out to see after it has had time to start growing again. Each of the leaves if you pick them and put them on top of finely graveled soil, will turn into another branch.

Jul 03, 2011

Sedeveria
by: Carol

One other possibility could be Sedeveria 'Harry Butterfield'...will be interesting to see when it is plump again.
This type of succulent is fascinating because you can really beef up a succulent display by adding a few of the branches. C.

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