Synonyms:

Hylotelephium sieboldii
Hylotelephium sieboldii var. sieboldii

Habitat:

S. sieboldii is native to China South-Central, Japan

Description:

S. sieboldii is a perennial, creeping succulent belonging to the Crassulaceae botanical family. The stems emerge from a central short rhizome and are unbranched, 25 cm long. The leaves are arranged in whorls around the stems and are flat, round, dark green in color, with dark red or purplish hues when the plant flowers. The variegated form has the leaves with a central yellow spot. Blooming occurs form September to October and buds are borne at the tip of the stems. The inflorescences are panicled cymes. The flowers are star-shaped with lanceolate petals, bright pink in color, borne on short stalks.

Cultivation:

This is a slow growing plant, easy to cultivate. The plant needs a full light sun exposure but is recommended to avoid direct sun-light in the hottest periods. The plant can resist very well even at extremely low temperatures so it can be placed outdoors. The soil should be mixed with pumice, clay and loam to allow the drainage and prevent the root rot, the plant is prone to it indeed. Remember to use a perforating pot to drain excess water. Watering can be done regularly in Spring and Summer: during the vegetative period you can water the plant (every 7 days), checking that the soil is completely dry before watering again; in winter you should stop the watering to allow the plant to enter dormancy. If you want a faster and lush growth you can fertilize the plant once a month during the growing season with the specific fertilizers for cacti; stop fertilizing throughout the winter. If the pot starts to be too small for the plant you can repot the plant in a pot 2 cm wider. Repotting should be done early in the growing season with fresh new potting soil. Be careful to red spiders and mealy bugs.

Propagation:

Propagation can be done by cutting or by seed. By cutting you can make the cut during the spring and then let the cutting dry; after a few days the cut surface will dry and a callus will form, then place the cutting in a mixture of sand, soil and pumice. To increase the success of propagation you can make two or more cuttings at the same time. For cuttings it is recommended temperatures around 20 °C. By seed it is very simple to propagate the plant, it is enough to sow the seed in a sandy loam soil and keep it with a high level of humidity and at temperature of 14 C°.

Curiosity:

Sedum means ‘plant, annual herb’ in Latin. Such a generic name is justified by the wide distribution of this genus. Recently, this plants have become popular in roof coverings, the so-called “green roofs”. The specific epithet sieboldii commemorates the German botanist Philipp Franz von Siebold, a notable plant collector of the 19th century. The variegation is due to the loss of the ability to produce chlorophyll in some tissues of the plant, so that this tissue is no longer green. Chlorophyll-free tissues are usually white or pale yellow coloured (due to carotenoid pigments) in contrast to the normal green tissue.

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