Pale stonecrop
Petrosedum sediforme
Family · Crassulaceae · Harmless
The clump of bluish succulent leaves, pointed like tiny pine nuts, growing on walls and rocks across the Peninsula. It is among the most recorded plants in the country and hardly anyone knows its name.
Walls and rocks · Scrubland · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asNice stonecrop, wall stonecrop
How to tell it
Fat, cylindrical, pointed leaves, blue-green or glaucous, packed in a spiral along prostrate stems. Whitish yellow flowers in curved clusters in summer, like small open fireworks.
What it is confused with
White stonecrop
Sedum album
They live on the same wall. White stonecrop has short round leaves like grains of rice and white flowers; this one has long pointed leaves and yellowish flowers.
What it is for
No relevant food use
Ecologically it is worth a lot: it covers bare rock, stores water in its leaves, and is one of the few greens that survive a roof in the August sun.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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