Twenty-two and nursing a gardening addiction in a little apartment while I figure out life. I prefer succulents and other weirdos of the plant world, but all plants are beautiful. Questions and comments are welcome. Suggestions are welcome if you have thought them through.
Euphorbia polygona ‘Snowflake’ at Longwood Gardens.
Favorite Thing About Home : My plants. These are some of the succulents and cacti that I had a couple of years back but, due to light restrictions in my new place, they’ve gone to live in a friend’s greenhouse. I still have a lot of plants, though, and they truly do give me great joy. {Bones}
This is a lovely picture, by the way. {Voodoo}
afrogalactic asked: Hi there! i love your collection! I'm also a succulent collector and just ordered Sedum morganianum. I've read some horror stories about allergic reactions to these plants online and am wondering if you've had any kind of issue with these plants. Thanks!
This question was quite a head-scratcher for me, as I’ve never had any trouble with my Sedum morganianum. I did a bit of googling around for these “horror stories” you were speaking of, and found some good examples in the Dave’s Garden entry for Sedum morganianum.
These caused further further confusion for me, though. “Sticky white discharge”? Inflammation? Danger to the eyes? It sounded like they were describing a euphorbia species, not my sweet little sedum. Then, looking through the “positive” entries, I found I was exactly right:
On Dec 17, 2009, vnickdd from Orlando, FL (Zone 9b) wrote:
This is a great little plant, and fun to propogate. You can even start new plants from the little “peas” that come off the main vine. PLEASE BE AWARE this plant is NOT Euphorbia myrsinites, the invasive, poisonous nasty guy some of the other comments are refering to which is also sometimes called “Donkey Tail.” You could probably eat this one (though I wouldn’t recommend it)….
There’s the culprit, then. Our lovely S. morganianum is being slandered by people confusing it with E. myrsinites, a euphorbia that’s called by the the same common name. If you look through the negative comments, you’ll notice they all refer to “Donkey’s Tail” or “this plant” instead of the proper name.
Euphorbias are all toxic to some degree. For a thorough examination of euphorbia toxicity, check out “How Toxic are Euphorbias, Really?”
S. morganianum is, in my experience, an utterly harmless plant. I’ve never known it to excrete anything but a little clear, water-like liquid, and only enough of that to leave a damp spot on the stem. That’s not saying that nobody has ever been allergic to it, but it’s certainly not a menace. For the plant’s sake, I would advise caution when handling: it loses leaves ridiculously easily. These can be used to start new plants with a little patience, though.
Aren’t common names FUN?
I found another way of getting a good picture of my plants—by standing on top of my bed :p
(You can also see the nice, repotted euphorbia and dorstenia in this picture. And the schefflera cutting, which isn’t dying!)
I disentangled my Euphorbia suzannae from the Dorstenia foetida that was sharing its pot. They have been potted into their own little pots now, but I decided to pause in the middle of the process and do some documentation.
While I was visiting my sister this weekend I acquired three new plants: Echeveria runyonii, Euphorbia suzannae, and Dorstenia foetida. The dorstenia was free since it had hitched a ride with the euphorbia.
This is my first euphorbia and I’m rather excited about it. I’m preparing a particularly fast-draining soil for it, since like E. obesa its most common problem is rot. It might be tricky separating it from the dorstenia, (and must remember: euphorbia sap is toxic and irritating) but it will be worth it. When the euphorbia grows up it will look like this:
(Source)
The dorstenia may have actually saved the Euphorbia suzanna’s life by absorbing some of its water. All the other E. suzannaes and E. obesas in this greenhouse were showing beginning signs of rot (yes, the greenhouse was a tad sketchy).
And of course, the dorstenia is not quite like anything I already have.
And my desire to buy all the echeverias ever has not even begun to be quenched.
