Succulent ID needed (ice plant family), please help

9 years ago

Hi, this is my first time to post here. I spend hours researching on any plant I get but this one has got me stumped, I've been at it for days. I'm sure it's a mesemb, an ice plant but i can't even pinpoint if it's a lampranthus, carpobrotus, delosperma or a malephora!

I know it looks pitiful, it was actually one of the last of its kind at the nursery and it looked so interesting i just had to get it. It took me over a month to decide to repot it because i wanted to be sure about its ID and provide the right soil and setting for it.

Finally, I just used sandy soil, put it in a cement pot and placed it in a part of our yard that gets bright sunlight all day. I live in a tropical country but it's the cool season now so it probably gets less direct sun than it should? I also watered it when it got dusty dry but the leaves don't look at all that plump to me. (I'm either a too fussy or too wayward a gardener.)

This might be common in other countries so please, any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

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Comments (11)

brown_panda
Original Author
9 years ago
A pic of the same plant repotted. I really want to make it thrive and, of course, bloom.
rosemariero
9 years ago
I would guess a Corpuscularia, with unusually long leaves...perhaps C. britteniae or C. lehmannii.
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brown_panda
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh my. That wasn't even in my initial research. It was frustrating since at times all i could see online were the flowers.

That was a great clue. The growth pattern/ habit was confusing me, it didn't look like any of the previous genera i mentioned. It does look similar to that of corpuscularia. I was leaning towards delosperma and when i researched the names you gave me, i found out they were from the same subfamily and tribe, if not interchangeable or synonyms of each other. Difference i could see was that delosperma are papillate and mine has very smooth almost satiny leaves, a feature of corpuscularia.

However, most of the Corpuscularia or Delosperma lehmannii in google images really had plump/ chubby and compact leaves. There were a few long-leaved ones but then they have reddish stalks and mine doesn't (though that could just be due to different growing conditions). The longest leaves on my plant are 1.5 inches or 4cm and the stalks have papery sheaths.

Thank you so much for that info rosemarie. I guess i'll treat it as a corpuscularia for the time being.
hablu
9 years ago
Can it be Marlottistella (stenophyllum)?

Harry

This post was edited by hablu on Thu, Nov 13, 14 at 14:35
brown_panda
Original Author
9 years ago
Wow, yet another genus i learn about. You mean a Marlothistella stenophylla Harry? I don't think so, the leaves are not similar at all. Closer to corpuscularia. But thanks.
rosemariero
9 years ago
Glad you found out what I did, Brown Panda ~regarding the synonyms, chunky leaves look to most, etc. I didn't have time to lay it all out the other day. Jumping in & out of the forum yet again. :)
raxidor
9 years ago
My tip is crassula. I have etiolated crassula arta and it looks similar, only leaves have different shape.
brown_panda
Original Author
9 years ago
Raxidor, i don't think your plant is a crassula any more than mine is. They do look similar but mine has longer leaves. Try any of the genera i posted (lampranthus, carpobrotus, delosperma or a malephora), maybe it's also a corpuscularia.

Iane
hablu
9 years ago
This is what I have as Marlotthistella ( page 222 in Mesmbs of the world from Ernst van Jaarsveld and many others). I'm probably wrong, but still searching.

greets Harry
brown_panda
Original Author
9 years ago
Oh that's very different from my plant Harry.
nomen_nudum
9 years ago
Raxidor seems to be a little etoliated, looks more like an Astrida of some type