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Native Plant Propagation Guidelines:
forbs

Sedum spathulifolium (broad-leaved stonecrop)

Category: 
forbs

photo by Moralea Milne

Perennial, succulent herb that reaches a height of 20 cm. Leaves are strongly flattened, fleshy and broadest beyond the mid-length (thumb or spoon shaped), alternate, 2 cm long and 1 cm wide, crowded, sage-green and reddish in full sun, surface is glaucous and sometimes wrinkled. Flowers are bright yellow with petals to 1 cm long, in fives, lance-shaped, pointed; in flat-topped clusters atop leafy, flowering stems. Fruits are erect follicles with five segments joined at the base and spreading at the tips and with numerous seeds. Photo by Moralea Milne.

Scientific Name: 

Sedum spathulifolium Hook. (S. pruinosum Britt. and S. spathulifolium ssp. pruinosum [Britt.] Clausen & Uhl var. pruinosum)

Family: 
Crassulaceae
English Name: 
broad-leaved stonecrop
Other Names: 
Pacific sedum

Geographical Range and Habitat Requirements

Ecological Setting: 

Found on the southern half of coastal and interior British Columbia to California. Common on southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Also common on the San Juan Islands and west of the Cascades throughout Washington including the Olympics and the Columbia Gorge. Found in very dry to dry sunny areas such as rocky outcroppings, coastal bluffs, cliffs and ravines. Low to middle elevations.

Soil Texture: 

Coarse textured sandy, gravelly soils.

Nutrients: 

Nitrogen poor soils.

Soil Reaction and Salinity: 
n/a
Moisture Regime: 

Excessively dry to very dry soils. Abundance decreases with increasing precipitation. Shallow, water shedding sites; characteristic of moisture-deficiency (Klinka et al., 1995).

Shade Tolerance: 

Very shade intolerant (Klinka et al., 1995).

Successional Status: 

Climax species on excessively dry, non-forested sites.

BEC Zone and GOE Community Status: 

Rock outcrops within driest Garry oak communities.

Uses

Site Rehabilitation: 
n/a
Wildlife: 
n/a
Landscaping: 

Showy plant (flowers and leaf colour) in a rockery, front of a border, in containers, or as a ground cover (S. Basin, personal communication).

First Nations: 

The Halq’emeylem of Kuper Island used this species as a styptic poultice. Songish women of the Straits Salish chewed the leaves in the last month of pregnancy to ease childbirth.

Other Uses: 
n/a

Seed Propagation

Flowering Time: 

June - July

Fruit Ripening Time: 

July - August

Seed Collection Time: 

July -August

Crop Intervals: 

Annual

Number of Seeds per Kilogram: 
n/a
Seed Viability: 
n/a
Fruit and Seed Collection and Extraction: 

Collect follicles when ripe by hand-clipping into a collection bag. Allow to dry and shake bag to release the seed. If growing sedum in containers, place pots or flats filled with soil around the containers and let seed disperse naturally onto the bare soil surfaces. Store outside for natural dormancy-breaking and spring germination (Dick, personal communication).

Seed Storage: 
n/a
Fruit/Seed Dormancy and Treatment: 

Sow seeds into outdoor containers or flats in the autumn and allow dormancy to break naturally. Alternatively, cold stratify stored seed for three months before sowing in the spring (Pettinger and Costanzo, 2002).

Vegetative Propagation

Sedum spathulifolium is the easiest of all rockery plants to propagate. Leaves, stems or rosettes will root with little or no pre-treatment (Kurkberg, 1996).

 

Method Success Rate Time of Collection
Softwood cuttings Very high Spring, summer, fall
Semi-hardwood cuttings n/a n/a
Hardwood cuttings n/a n/a
Root cuttings n/a n/a
Suckers n/a n/a
Plant division High Spring, summer, fall

 

Outplanting Characteristics and Requirements

Plant in gritty, well-drained soil in a sunny location (Pettinger and Costanzo, 2002; S. Bastin, personal communication).

Seed and Cutting Propagation Techniques

n/a

Additional Information and Photos

For more information and pictures, visit the E-Flora BC website at www.eflora.bc.ca.www.eflora.bc.ca

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