Plant ID

<p>I have been tromping around this area most of my life and I've never seen, or at least noticed this plant before. In fact I camped in this same spot a year and a half ago and never saw any of it. So I'm wondering if it's a new invasive species? Location: East slopes of the central Washington Cascades. 4800 foot level and full daytime sun exposure. Anybody have any idea what this is? </p><div></div>

<p>Looks like a type of <em>Sempervivum</em>. Commonly called "Hen and Chicks"</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sempervivum">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sempervivum</a></p>

<p>I'm guessing that Larry is right, but as the Wiki shows, there are a huge number of varieties as well as some closely related genera.<br>

They have the property, if the ID is right, of being able to propagate by just planting a leaf stem into the ground and watering it. </p>

<p>I'd guess it's a species of <a href="http://www.sedumphotos.net/v/sedum-ghij/Sedum+grisebachii+_1_.jpg.html">Sedum </a>not Sempervivum, the two genera are probably closely related but AFAIK Sedum flowers usually have fewer petals and the leaves are more often pill/drop-shaped (rather than flattened & pointy as in many Sempervivums).</p>

<p>Hi Doug,</p>

<p>This is sedum stenopetalum. I used to grow it in cultivation as part of my sedum collection. As an Australian I hope to return to the Pacific North West to see this one in habitat........... it's a native to your camping area and def. not an invasive species.</p>

<p>Sedums like this one are quite transitory and can move about the natural surface rapidly as well as being hard seeded so they can germinate at the opportunity of decent rainfall / snow melt. Your photo here is clearly of a plant that has seen a long hot summer with all the energy pumped into the growth tips and the branches withering. These growth tips can snap off the plant and re-shoot to form new plants and from the looks of this tired specimen that is exactly what will happen. If you return to the same location in spring / early summer, the plants will be lush and have green branches.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Matthew.</p>

<p>Larry, JDM and Paul, Thanks for the effort to help, I do appreciate it!<br>

Matthew, Thank you very much, you nailed it! With your ID I was able to look at a photo that showed both the new growth (I guess that is what I photographed?) and the flowering plant all in the same photo. Or does it grow to what I photographed one year and then grow taller and bloom the next? We are at the end of our growing season here and the ones I photographed will be covered in snow in a week or two till May. BTW, I have seen the flowering sedum stenopetalum MANY times, just assumed it was a different variety of what we call Indian Paintbrush. </p>

<p>Doug, I qualify my answers by asserting that that I am indeed no expert. My experience of growing this sedum in cultivation (both in the garden and potted) has been in a milder temperate climate close to the south eastern edge of Australia where spring is much longer, summers also much longer and autumns mild with a cool winter / no snow so basically a far greater opportunity for a prolonged growing season. As far as I recall sedum stenopetalum flowered reliably every late spring / summer here, even when grown in tiny specimen pots.<br>

From my reading (Sedum Cultivated Stonecrops by Ray Stephenson) the author details how the plant produces adventitious buds along the length of the flower stems - these are are 'pups' which fall off the withering parent plant and are ready made vegetative cuttings which get blown about the area and re-establish to form new plants. Thus from your photo above, my intuitive guess would be that you have photographed a site where a flower has dumped a cluster of buds which have begun to establish themselves and are now in the process of falling dormant before winter arrives. </p>

<p>Can you re-visit the same location next spring?</p>

 

<p>Thanks a lot for the additional info Matthew! This area is what I'd call a transitional zone between conifer forest, and predominantly shrub steppe and is generally quite dry from May through early October, maybe getting an inch or 2 of rain over that whole period of time. This September was very unusual in that the area received between 3 and 4 inches in a 2 week period and then it's been hot and dry again since then. "Maybe" this is why I noticed all these green buds growing all over the place? I don't know, I'm just having a hard time believing I never noticed them before. I'm not a plant guy, but I do spend a fair amount of time looking at the ground studying deer and elk tracks while hunting. Our hunting camp is set up right next to these plants and I'll be back up there in a couple days for the start of our week long elk season. Yes I can go back to the exact spot next spring. </p>