Sedum/Hylotetephium sieboldii (October Daphne Stonecrop) on 6-12-14, #229-28.
October Daphne Stonecrop, Siebold’s Stonecrop, Etc.
Sedum sieboldii
SEE-dum see-BOLD-ee-eye
OR…
Hylotelephium sieboldii
hy-loh-te-LEE-fee-um see-BOLD-ee-eye
Sedum sieboldii is a correct and accepted scientific name for this species of Sedum. It was named and described by… Well, who named it first is a good question. I spend several hours for three days trying to explain my dilemma because the main sources of my information had three different opinions… Umm… Make that four. It could be Hylotelphium sieboldii…
The species was named after Philipp Franz von Siebold, a very notable German plant collector, physician, traveler, writer, etc. with an amazing history! There are many species named in his honor and he named several species. His Japanese daughter, Kusumoto Ine, was the FIRST female Japanese physician. She was born in 1825. Umm… He lived with her mother while he stayed in Japan but they weren’t married. He returned to the Netherlands in 1830 and married in 1845 at the age of 49 when living in Leiden. His wife was 25 when they married and they had five children.
Then I remembered what I was told by a member of the Missouri Botanical Garden. She said any database can choose whichever name and author they choose. That kind of confused me for a while because there are “rules” that have to be followed when someone names a plant. So, if the curators can choose whatever author’s description, then I guess I guess I can too. This is, after all, my blog. 🙂
So here is my opinion…
Sedum sieboldii hort. ex G.Don was described by George Don in Sweet’s Hortus Britannicus in 1839. The “hort.” means horticultural use or something… I think many plants were grown and records kept for them before they were “released” to the public. The plant was named but not officially described until 1839 by George Don. George Don may have named this plant, but it is not on the list of plants named by him on his Wikipedia page. So, I just don’t know… His father, also named George Don, was Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. Sedum sieboldii hort ex G.Don is the “only” name given by The International Plant Names Index (IPNI).
Sedum sieboldii Sweet ex Hooker was described by William Jackson Hooker in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, Volume 89 (Tab. 5358 for Sedum sieboldii) in 1863. William Jackson Hooker was the director of the Royal Gardens of Kew at the time. Later editions of the magazine in 1863 were by his son, Joseph Dalton Hooker, who also succeeded his father as director in 1865. The magazine was started by William Curtis, who worked at Kew, in 1787. The magazine is still published by the Royal Botanical Gardens making it the longest running botanical magazine.
I have no idea why Mr. Hooker full last name was used in the name of this species instead of his usual abbreviation, “Hook.”, when naming plants. His son’s abbreviation is “Hook.f.”. A few “official” websites, including Encyclopedia of Life (EOL), use the name Sedum sieboldii Sweet ex Hook.)… But as a synonym.
Sedum sieboldii Regal was described by Eduard August von Regel in Index Seminum in 1856. This is the description Plants of the World Online has chosen to use although they provide a link to the International Plant Names Index which says Sedum sieboldii hort. ex G.Don. The Plants of the World Online website by Kew is fairly new, but some are considering it the most up-to-date database…
Hylotelephium sieboldii (Sweet ex Hooker) H.Ohba was described by Hideaki Ohba in Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) in 1977. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) has been published by the Tokyo Botanical Society since 1887. The USDA Plants database and Wikipedia say this is the correct and accepted name.
The Hylotelephium genus is one of several genera used to separate many species of Sedum into groups with certain features in the late 1970’s. Some databases don’t accept the change and those other genera are mostly considered synonyms of Sedum.
The USDA Plants Database lists 6 accepted species of Hylotelephium, including Hylotetephium sieboldii.
No matter which description by which author you choose, the species is still sieboldii… Sedum is much easier to pronounce, spell, and remember than Hylotelephium. 🙂
Sedum/Hylotelephium sieboldii (October Daphne Stonecrop) on 6-29-14, #230-78.
I bought this October Daphne, or whatever you choose to call it, from Wal-Mart in June 2014. I put it in the cast iron planter (that used to be part of a furnace) next to the bed behind the old foundation where my grandparent’s old house was. It received full sun in this location which brought out the color of the leaves.
USEFUL INFORMATION:
Family: Crassulaceae
Origin: Japan, possibly also China
Zones: USDA Zones *2a-10b (-50 to 35° F)
Size: 6-12”
Light: Sun to light shade
Soil: Well-drained
Water: Average. Drought tolerant. Do not over water.
*Dave’s Garden says USDA zones 2a-10b, but other websites say USDA zones 3-9 and 6-9. I am in zone 6 and this plant did not survive the winter well here.
Sedum/Hylotelephium sieboldii (October Daphne) on 7-12-14, #231-81.
This plant is very easy to grow in full sun to light shade. In hotter climates, this plant needs light shade.
They need very well-drained soil as with most Sedum species. They are drought tolerant but appreciate regular watering during the heat of the summer. If grown in pots the soil should dry out between watering as overwatering will cause the roots to rot.
Although this plant barely came up in the spring of 2014, it didn’t do well and fizzled out. Maybe someday I will find another one and give it another shot.
I hope you enjoyed this page and maybe found it useful. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, I would like to hear from you. Please click on “like” if you visited this page. It helps us bloggers stay motivated. 🙂 You can check out the links below for further reading. The links take you directly to the genus and species of this plant.
