Look what I got!

Species name: Euphorbia milii

Common name: crown of thorns

Location: my office!

Yesterday was the annual plant sale here on campus and usually I get a few tomato plants and maybe an herb plant or two for my mom's and my lame attempt at growing our own food (tomatoes seem to dislike us, yet we valiantly try growing them every year...). This year I got some cherry tomatoes and some "prize winning" tomatoes (don't let me down, now!), as well as some clove basil and purple basil (tried both of them; both taste like regular basil). I also saw this gem of a plant there and wanted to snap it up before anyone else got the chance. Understandably, carrying it back to my office was a bit of an undertaking but at least everyone steered clear because they didn't want to be impaled. I have to give special thanks to Jason my office-mate who gave me $0.50 of the $2 purchase price to buy the plant for our office; he is the proud owner of 1/4 of everything you see in the images.

Hopefully you read my blog often enough to know I've blogged about a variety of this plant already during my series of "Plants of the Dominican Republic". If not, what's wrong with you?! Get reading! :) (just kidding; you can find the blog post HERE). So just as a refresher, this plant is native to Madagascar where its native habitat is threatened, and is incredibly toxic from all parts of the plant so extreme care should be taken when handling. I'm glad I knew that already; no one told me that at the plant sale...

So what's exciting about this plant? I mean, aside from the physical attractiveness of the plant itself. Sure, it's a little evil-looking with its giant spines but the flowers are beautiful and the leaves are an awesome colour of bright green. But the other reason why these plants are great is because of the propagation potential: growing a new plant from a stem cutting from an old one is almost idiot-proof. You wait until the plant goes dormant and just looks like a giant stick of spines and cut pieces off. On the original plant the cut point will result in a branching of the plant (so shaping plants is easy simply by pruning), and the cutting can be used to generate a new plant. You wait a few days until the cut end starts to callus over, then put it in a pot with slightly sandy soil. Water once a week, but make sure you let the soil completely dry between waterings or else the cutting will likely rot. Remember that these are succulents; the fastest way to kill the plant is by watering it too often!

BLOG UPDATE: Last weekend I was at my friend Sandra's house helping her out with a garage sale (since I absolutely LOVE garage sales!). The sale itself was less than stellar, probably because it was darn cold on Saturday morning, but Sandra's garden is full of strange and unusual plants. When the sale wasn't busy I wandered around taking pictures of plants in her garden with my iPhone, and will be featuring a "Plants of Sandra's Garden" series over the coming weeks on my blog.

If the spines don't get you, the latex will!

Species name: Euphorbia milii var. splendens

Common name: crown of thorns, Christ plant

Location: Dominican Republic

The crown of thorns is native to Madagascar, as are many species of Euphorbia. There are an estimated 100 species in the genus, but I have my doubts that they all belong. There seems to be a group of about 40 species that are native to Madagascar (some are critically endangered, some or more common but all are at risk due to habitat destruction), another group that are native to mainland Africa, and then yet another group that are native to Europe and South America (to see an example of the morphological variation in the family, read all about the chenille plant HERE). The plants native to Madagascar are very similar to the one pictured above; small-ish brightly-coloured flowers, very thick green leaves that are concentrated at the tips of the stems, long spines, and are relatively low to the ground. The ones native to Africa are trees; some can be up to 35 feet tall but otherwise similar to the Madagascar euphorbs. The plants native to Europe and South America are the weird ones; they're the round, "blobby" euphorbs that look absolutely nothing like their African "relatives". It wouldn't surprise me at all if there ended up being multiple genera within Euphorbia and a lot of renaming of species in the years to come. There are currently four sub-genera, but even those don't quite seem to be natural groups, at least to my untrained eye. I'm going to lay my bets on there actually being six genera within Euphorbia. We'll see if I'm right; I'll re-evaluate this blog if there's ever a genus-wide systematic DNA analysis that's performed.

The crown of thorns is a species that has a rather unique common name, due to its hypothesized role in Christian and Catholic beliefs. The story goes that when Christ was nailed to the cross, he was also forced to wear a crown made of a very thorny plant; whenever there's a painting depicting Christ's crucifixion, his head is always bleeding from the thorns digging into his forehead and scalp. It is believed based on geological evidence and stories passed down through generations (as well as artifacts discovered in Mosques and in underground burial tombs) that this plant was transported to the Middle East very early on; as many as 5,000 years ago. The story goes, then, that this plant is the source of the thorny branches that made up Christ's "thorn crown" during the crucifixion. The story of Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear courtesy of Disney also revolves around a dense thicket of thorns (I only know this because of the ride Splash Mountain at Walt Disney World in Florida...), and it's highly likely that these are some sort of euphorb (the story is based on folk tales told by African slaves after first being transported to the United States, so its doubtful the plants making up the Brier/Briar Patch would be American species) or other African spiny species.

All euphorbs are highly toxic. Some are more irritating only to the skin, while others produce noxious fumes from their latex (the white milky substance that is released when any part of the plant is damaged, as you can see in the third picture) and can cause severe respiratory problems. If ingested, this species won't kill you but will most definitely make you sick (vomiting, diarrhea and severe dehydration as a result of these two). African species can cause death just from contact with the latex, let alone ingestion. It's amazing the kinds of defence systems that some plants have evolved! Unsurprisingly, it is rare to find any kind of insect or other animal herbivore munching on these plants as a snack.

The flowers of this plant are quite neat, and you can actually gauge the age of the flower bracts by their colour. What we see as "flowers" aren't actually flowers at all. The two "petals" are modified leaves called bracts that contain chromoplasts instead of chloroplasts, which give the bracts their red to pinkish hue. These bracts change colour as they age, and the rate at which they change colour depends on the amount of sun they're exposed to and how long the bracts have been fully-developed. They usually start off a bright pink or red, then gradually fade to completely green before the fruit is mature, then the bracts fall off. Those small yellow patches on the very inside of the flowers are the true flowers; the fruit of these plants is rarely larger than a few millimetres across and is red when mature.

(one of) The real jade plant(s)

Species name: Crassula ovata (formerly Crassula argentea)

Common name: jade plant

Location: UWO Greenhouse

This plant is a wonderful example of taxonomy and taxonomic rules. A few days ago I profiled the trumpet jade, which is a variety of the jade plant selected for its morphologically messed-up leaves (you can read all about it HERE). It is native to South Africa, and has (to my knowledge) never been evaluated for its species status. It is likely very secure (meaning there are many individuals left in the wild that readily reproduce), but since I've never been to South Africa I'm definitely not one to comment first-hand.

Historically, the jade plant was divided into two different species based on flowers; the pink-flowered plants were placed in Crassula ovata and the white-flowered plants belonged in Crassula argentea. There is also a correlation between colours of flowers and the general shape of the leaves; the leaves of the pink-flowered plants often have longer and more oval leaves, while the white-flowered plants have shorter, slightly rounder leaves. Unfortunately, this was just smoke and mirrors and a great example of how plants confuse botanists. The "rules" that were made up for how to tell C. ovata from C. argentea were 100% artificial, and it turns out they're both the same species. The colour of the flower is controlled by a single gene and there can be gene copies for white flowers or pink flowers. Depending on whether the plant has white genes or pink genes, the flowers can be more white, more pink, or somewhere in between. Leaf shape is probably more controlled by level of maturation and environmental conditions than anything else; leaves produced in very dry conditions and high amounts of sunlight will be smaller and more ovate than ones produced when lots of water is available and the temperature is cooler.

So once a species has two names, what do we do? In the naming of any kind of biological organism, there is a rule called the "Rule of Priority". Whatever name was validly published and applied to the organism first is the name that stays. There are some ways to make exceptions to this rule (especially in animals...zoologists are terrible with following rules of taxonomy!), but I won't get into that. If I don't get to bend the rules with my thesis when I'm naming species, no one else should :)

This jade plant has been masterfully cared for. How do I know this? Look at all the flowers! I've seen the odd flower or inflorescence group on a jade plant before, but nothing like this. One thing that you often have to be careful of when it comes to flowering plants (and some non-flowering plants that are gymnosperms) is that when they "moult" because their health is suffering, it's often mistaken for a sign of great health and prosperity. Some trees are known to do this: the tree somehow knows that it is infected with some kind of disease (insect, fungal, bacterial or viral), produces significantly more seeds than it would under normal conditions, then dies pretty quickly after the big seed flush. Oak trees also do this on an incredibly predictable cycle, which is off-set with population booms of squirrels. When the squirrel population is high, the oak trees need to produce an over-abundance of acorns just to keep up. They moult and over-produce acorns in an effort to overwhelm the squirrels and hopefully reproduce instead of being completely eaten. The results of this effort can sound like it's literally raining acorns. This effort seems to be incredibly successful, since most species of oak aren't at risk of becoming endangered due to squirrel predation any time soon. The moulting of oak trees depends on the species; red oaks are on a 4-5 year cycle and white oaks a 5-7 year cycle. Is this jade plant at risk of keeling over after this flush of flowers? I'm guessing not, but I'm really not sure. If it's mysteriously absent from the greenhouse in 8-12 months, then I think I know why! If it's still there, then its just a well-loved jade plant.

Dr. Seuss' jade plant

Species name: Crassula ovata "Monstruosa"

Common name: trumpet jade, Gollum's fingers

Location: UWO Greenhouse

The jade plant, and many of its closest relatives like this one, is native to South Africa. This specific cultivar, originally thought to be a hybrid of two different species but now known to just be selective breeding with the "true" jade plant, is rumoured on gardening websites to be incredibly rare, yet everyone seems to have one. I personally had never seen this plant until I photographed it in the greenhouse, so there might be something to this "rare-ness." I even had to call it the "Dr. Seuss Jade Plant" in my notes since I had never seen anything like it! Now that I know I can master the art of growing a regular jade plant, I'm thinking of asking the director of the greenhouses to make me a cutting so I can have one of these, too. The fun you can have with succulents! The status of the jade plant and its closest relatives is unknown in South Africa. I can't imagine it's in danger of over-hunting by greenhouses and gardening shops since it is so easily propagated, but it would have its own set of natural threats like infringing on its native growth range by urban expansion and conversion of arid locations into agricultural land. Is anyone from South Africa and can comment on how common it is in the wild? Or has ever been to South Africa and has noticed it growing there?

The jade plant is one of the most common indoor potted plants (both the bonsai version and the regular "full grown" version) because of their ease of growth indoors. When I was in high school and someone told me this, I would have called them a liar since I managed to kill mine in a few short months. Turns out I killed it with kindness (this was before I recognized that plants with thick, glossy, fleshy leaves are probably succulents and so dislike being watered more often than once every couple of weeks). Jade plants thrive under conditions of neglect, perfect for those of you with black thumbs that want to try growing plants again. The same cannot be said about getting jade plants to flower; they are notoriously difficult flower-ers in pots indoors. The key is to deprive them of water in October, expose them to cool (but not cold) nights, and no more than 8 hours of daylight for October, November and December. Resume regular care in January, and by February or March the plants will be ready to flower. This sounds like a whole lot of work to me for some puny little white or slightly pink flowers; plus, the leaves are so attractive on their own!

Along with over-watering, there are a few indoor pests that are more than happy to attack your jade plants should they find their way into your home. The first are mealy bugs. They're easily removed with a toothbrush (don't press too hard! You want to scrape them off the cuticle or the waxy coating of the leaf, not scrape into the cuticle and damage the epidermis; this will lead to far more problems later on), and then the whole plant can be sprayed with a very mild dish soap solution in a spray-bottle. Make sure you cover the soil with a towel because even a slight amount of soap in the soil can damage the roots and hence the whole plant. The second problem are spider mites which can spin a white, silky web-like substance on branching points or at the base of leaves, and then at those spots the plant literally falls apart (entire branches will fall off with no prior warning, like they've been severed off from the inside outwards). The same treatment applies; take a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and remove any white silk you find and spray the plant with a very mild dish soap solution, making sure you don't get too much of it on the soil.

I've heard a few people say that they use their jade plant as an aloe substitute, especially when the plant is mature and has a lot of leaves to spare. I can't imagine this working at all in their favour; there are no reports of jade plants being at all successful in promoting skin wound healing or relieving the pain of burned skin. Something tells me the placebo effect is hard at work here!

What is the proper name for this plant?!

Species name: Kleinia mandraliscae (or perhaps Senecio mandraliscae, or perhaps neither of these...)

Common name: blue chalk sticks

Location: UWO Greenhouse

This plant was rather interesting to identify; it took me a long time to accept that I had found the correct plant because of the plants it was most closely related to. Blue chalk sticks (a pretty awesome common name, even if the "sticks" are leaves and they can't be used like chalk even if you dehydrate them) are native to South Africa and the surrounding area, in dry, hot locations. They are succulents, meaning they store water in their leaves to use during times of drought. And that's basically all I could find out about this plant!

When it comes to plant identification, it's amazing how little can be found about certain plants. This one, for example, doesn't actually seem to exist. It was previous named in the genus Senecio, and I'm not entirely sure how it got there. Senecio, or the ragwort or groundsel group, is closely related to the common dandelion (which you can read all about HERE). If you picture what this plant and what a dandelion look like, they look absolutely nothing alike, not even if you use your imagination. I've never seen the flowers on this plant, but I can't imagine them looking like dandelions, either. Somewhere down the line this species was moved into the genus Kleinia, which doesn't seem to have a common name. The affinities (the closest relatives) of these species are still up for debate since none of them have had their DNA sequenced. The icing on the cake with the blue chalk sticks is that according to Wikipedia (a remarkably accurate resource when it comes to current taxonomy), this species doesn't exist in any genus. One page says it's a Kleinia, but links to a page with photos that calls it a Senecio, but neither of the pages which list species names of either of these genera have it listed under current species. So where does this species belong? What is its current name? What are its closest relatives? Your guess as to the answer of these questions is as good as mine.

My thoughts: this plant is actually just a blue variety of Senecio barbertonicus. Based on images, these two species look strikingly alike, except for the colour of their leaves. I'll have to keep going back to the greenhouse to see if I can catch this plant flowering to see if the flowers are the same. There are some exceptionally odd species of both genera (Senecio and Kleinia) that are only known from cultivation, which should make you wonder if they're true species at all. This is a perfect demonstration of why we need to sequence more plant species so we have an idea of the diversity on Earth. Right now we really are flying blind!

Swim little fishies!

Species name: Nemanthus wettsteinii

Common name: goldfish plant

Location: UWO Greenhouse

This is one of the few tropical species of plants that grow well indoors that I'm disappointed no one has told me about before a couple of weeks ago. To me, these flowers are just plain awesome. Not just awesome for the fact that they literally look like goldfish (unlike other plants named after animals like the Shrimp Plant; sorry shrimp plant!), but because of their unique adaptations to target their preferred pollinators. The goldfish plant is native to the Amazon and surrounding areas, with the native range stretching from Brazil up to Mexico. This plant, while a very popular indoor plant in the southern United States, is still very common in the wild. It also grows incredibly easily indoors, so the need to return to the wild to collect more plants is rare.

The reproduction of this plant is fascinating. In fact, it hardly ever happens, and never happens sexually in this species. Hard to believe? I agree! But the biology has been well documented, and so here's what happens. The flowers are just an offering to species that need nectar in the wild, which is practically unheard of in the wild. This species of Nemanthus is asexual, meaning the flowers are not produced for the purpose of reproduction. Close relatives of the goldfish plant, who have redder flowers that are less shaped like goldfish and more like tubes, do reproduce via seeds (which requires sexual reproduction) so it appears as if this plant has lost the ability somewhere down the line. Instead, it reproduces asexually by severing its young branches, having them fall off the plant, ideally roll down a hill and root in a new location. In the wild these plants are often epiphytes, meaning they'll grow on just about any surface that they can grab onto (and rarely obtain nutrients from this surface; they get those from the humid air). The goldfish are just swollen sacs of nectar available for any insect or bird to exploit at their will. Hummingbirds, despite the flowers of this species being orange and not red, are still attracted to the flowers and will use it as a preferred nectar source when the flowers are in full bloom. Some insects with biting mouthparts will chew tiny holes in the bottom of the goldfish stomach to allow the nectar to freely flow out of the flower, and drink all they can get before returning to their nest. Other birds will use this same strategy, poking holes in the flowers and drinking the nectar that flows out. Every so often the goldfish plant will make something that looks like seeds when the flowers are spent, but they are sterile and not worth collecting since they will not produce a new individual (bananas are like this also; we call this not being "true to seed").

Like many succulent plants with fleshy leaves, the goldfish plant produces chemicals in the leaves that are mildly irritating to the skin. If you have sensitive skin and are planning on propagating this plant by snapping off leaves and putting them in water to root (it really is that easy to make a new plant!), make sure you wear gloves and you'll be fine. Cats and dogs (and other indoor pets) usually stay away from this plant despite having flowers that look like they would be fun to play with. There must be some kind of scent emitted from the leaves or flowers that lets them know it shouldn't be messed with. Goldfish plants are quite drought tolerant, so ignoring them won't bother them too much. They are also frost-tolerant (reportedly surviving brief exposures of -5 degrees Celsius or about 23-25 degrees Fahrenheit) so forgetting them outside on a cold night isn't a big deal.

A word of warning, however, if you like using these plants as ornamental garden plants in baskets during the summer and have a backyard garden: they carry viroids. A viroid is like a virus, being able to be transmitted from plant to plant when they come in contact (or when the sap of one plant is on the leaf surface of another, where it can enter the leaf breathing pores or stomata). Viroids are present in many plants, and it is believed that some are just the result of a virus that had infected the plant but had mutated to no longer be able to reproduce so gets stuck in the plant as a sort of virus fossil or relic. Some viroids, however, are still able to cause disease in plants, especially crop species. The viroid that the goldfish plant carries causes no symptoms in the plant so you would never even know it had it...until it comes in contact with either potatoes or tomatoes. Then it wreaks havoc. The symptoms in potatoes and tomatoes are quite severe, reducing the yield of crops of these two plants quite drastically. Best to keep these plants away from each other! Viroids cannot be spread through the air, and this particular viroid doesn't last very long outside of the plant, so having them in the same garden is no problem as long as there's a distance between them.

Madagascar's elephants are plants

Species name: Kalanchoe beharensis

Common name: elephant ear kalanchoe

Location: UWO Greenhouse

Contrary to my wishes, the elephant ear kalanchoe (having Latin names as a common name can be incredibly confusing; Kalanchoe refers to the genus, kalanchoe refers to any plant that looks like it belongs to the genus, whether it does or not) is native to Madagascar. Based on the shape of the leaves, I figured that they looked more like an Asian elephant than an African elephant, and so I wanted badly for this plant to be native to India. Not so. Ah, well. This species of Kalanchoe was once widely distributed across the entire island of Madagascar, but now exists only in small areas (but in those small areas it is still very abundant). It has been introduced to many areas around the world including Mexico, South Africa, and the Himalayas where it has been naturalized and exists as an integral part of their arid, desert ecosystems. This plant is a succulent, meaning it is drought-tolerant and stores water in its leaves for use during times when water is not readily available. Succulents actually do better when you let the soil dry out completely between waterings, and over-watering is the leading cause of death of indoor succulents (that sounded very coroner-like...). In fact, if you are prone to neglecting house plants, this plant is definitely for you; it can survive for two weeks during the height of summer with no water, and at least two months during the winter!

Different species of Kalanchoe are known not for their foliage or for their flowers, but for their method of reproduction. Unfortunately, this species also didn't read the book about rules kalanchoes have to follow so it very rarely reproduces this way. Most kalanchoes produce structures called foliar embryos at the edges of their leaves, in the indentations or margin waves. These foliar embryos are produced asexually (they are clones of the parent plant), and develop on the edge of the leaf using resources from the parent plant until it is ready to grow on its own. Depending on how much water is around, this could even be until the embryo has four or five fully-developed leaves and a handful of roots. It's quite a spectacle to see, and I'll profile another species of Kalanchoe another time that produces spectacular amounts of these foliar embryos. They are often sold in nurseries and greenhouses, which I never understood. Why buy the plant if you can get the embryos for free?! I'll admit, guilty as charged--that's how I obtained my Kalanchoe that we had in a south-facing window until we moved. Various species of Kalanchoe can reach heights of up to 12 meters, and regularly grow indoors to 6 feet or more if given a big enough pot. Even in a 6" pot, my kalanchoe was enormous, and produced so many embryos they would regularly be all over the carpet. If you want a clean houseplant, this one is not for you!

The dense surface hairs on the leaves and upper stem of these plants serve two purposes. The first is a method of decreasing water loss from the leaf of the plant. The hairs create a micro-climate at the leaf's surface that is humid and warm, ensuring that any water around the leaf condenses on the hairs and can be used by the plant. Creating a leaf micro-climate is common of succulent and other desert species since losing too much water from your leaves will definitely lead to the death of the plant in such a harsh climate. The second reason for the leaf hairs is to serve as a defence system for the plant. Since the leaf tissues are so juicy, any herbivore looking for food and water would target succulent plants first. They cannot afford to be eaten, so they produce surface hairs that are more like spines or daggers to a small insect. This is actually incredibly effective; if you mutate the genes responsible for producing surface hairs on the leaves, the plant is completely consumed by insects and other small herbivores (and even some big ones like omnivorous lizards). The surface hairs themselves deter about 95% of all predators, and the additional chemical they pack into the hairs deters the rest: silica. If you've ever had an accidental mouthful of sand, you'll understand why nothing would ever want to eat these plants!

Doesn't look like a donkey tail to me!

Species name: Sedum morganianum

Common name: burro's tail

Location: UWO Greenhouse

As you may or may not be able to tell, the group of plants for my last few blogs were all native to Mexico and the surrounding area and this plant is no different. Burro's tail is native to southern Mexico and into Honduras, where it is incredibly common. This plant is also a very popular houseplant in hanging baskets (as is growing in the greenhouse, but it can also grow along the ground), and can survive in some areas in the southern United States. It is drought-tolerant due to its fleshy, water-storing leaves, and can actually be damaged very quickly by over-watering. Watering once a month during the non-flowering season and once a week or every two weeks from spring to summer is more than sufficient. I tried growing this plant once and managed to kill it in 7 days; a record for me. It was sitting on a heater in the window, one of the only places I had in my apartment to grow plants. Ironically enough, if I hadn't of watered the plant almost daily because I thought the soil was getting too dry being on the heater, it probably would have thrived and taken over the entire living room! Lesson learned: when you get a new houseplant, look up how to care for it on the internet!

This plant is an interesting lesson in Spanish and English translations. The other common name for this plant is "donkey tail", and "burro" is the Spanish word for donkey. There is another cultivar that is very commonly grown as a houseplant called the "burrito" cultivar. Did you know that a burrito is a baby donkey?! You can probably imagine how this cultivar is different from the species growing in the wild. I will never be able to look at a burrito while eating dinner the same way again...

As with many of the plants featured from the greenhouse so far, please exert extreme caution should you choose to grow this plant indoors and have cats. The plant is incredibly toxic to humans and other animals alike, but due to its growth habit this plant looks especially like a cat toy hanging off a table. Even ingesting one leaf of this plant could seriously harm the digestive system of a cat or small dog, and the plant is prone to losing leaves on its own.

This plant's so cool it's Ice!

Species name: Hylotelephium spectabile (formerly Sedum spectabile)

Common name: Ice plant

Location: Ontario

This species of succulent plant is native to Europe and is one of the few examples of succulent plants that can survive in Canada. This plant is technically a perennial, and there are select locations that the ice plant survives as a perennial, but in most locations it is grown as an annual (much like tomatoes and potatoes; technically those are perennial plants, too!). Once the flowers open they are pink to white depending on the cultivar, and the texture of the leaves is indicative of the health of the plant. The rubberier the leaves, the more water they contain, and the more healthy the plant. This is much the same as one of its houseplant relatives, the Jade plant; many indoor plant growers use the thickness of the leaves to determine when the plant needs water (which, surprisingly enough, is only once every two to four weeks depending on indoor humidity!).

This species of plant is another example of how DNA sequencing has shown that plants that are superficially similar to each other might not actually be related at all. Like it's close relative the showy stonecrop, which you can read all about HERE, this species of plant used to be in the genus Sedum because of the five petals in each flower, and ten stamens (stamens run along the mid-vein of each petal, and again perfectly between each petal). There was also that these are succulent plants, the general shape of the leaves and the colour of the flowers that both genera have in common which led botanists to believe all of these species were part of the same genus. This is just yet another example of the saying "morphology doesn't always predict phylogeny;" in other words just because two things look the same doesn't mean they're related to each other. In Biology, we call these traits "homologies" (also "analogies" depending on the circumstance) which are two different characteristics that have arisen separately but have converged on a similar morphology due to the characteristics' function. A great example of this in the animal kingdom are wings. Bird wings and bat wings are very different when you look at the bones of each structure, but they still look very similar because both bird and bat wings are used for flight.

Stone-cold stonecrops

Species name: Hylotelephium cauticola

Common name: showy stonecrop

Location: Ontario

Let me start off by saying that this was a pain in the tush to identify, having really nothing to go on. Sure, it looks a bit like a jade plant (in a related genus, Sedum), and sure, it looks a bit like hens and chickens (in related genera, Sempervium and Jovibarba) but it doesn't really fit any species in any genus that I looked at. An hour and a half later, I decided to look on the Dave's Garden website at all of the different cultivars in these genera and lo-and-behold! What amazing things human beings can do to plants once we start selectively breeding! This plant in its "natural" state is actually quite large, not the puny little plant that is dwarfed by the downspout in our garden. The flowers are also naturally a much lighter colour pink, almost white. This species of stonecrop (the common name "showy stonecrop" is actually quite misleading since it is applied routinely to about 5 different species in different genera) is native to Japan, with various cultivars being created and naturalized to North America. This plant does very well in dry, rocky conditions where most other plants would not grow, and is especially popular (with many of its relatives) as plants for rock gardens. It reproduces very easily from stem and leaf cuttings, including accidental breakage. There have been reports of pieces of this plant and related species taking root in a new spot in a garden after having being whipper-snippered off the original plant and having laid in the sun drying out for weeks.

Hylotelephium and the genus it used to be classified in, Sedum (DNA evidence suggests these are separate groups despite being incredibly similar visually), are both considered (along with many other plants) succulents. A succulent plant is a plant that has very fleshy leaves that are used to store water. If you have a jade plant at home, you'll probably have noticed that a day or two after watering the leaves look very plump and a bright green, and as time goes on the leaves get thinner and a much darker green (eventually becoming brown if you leave it long enough without water). This is the plant storing water in the leaf tissues, and gradually using that water for growth and basic baseline energy production as the earth dries. For this reason, it's actually detrimental to the plant if they're watered too often, and will very easily succumb to "drowning".

Other than the obvious ornamental value, this plant has no other medicinal or economic value.