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perennialfan273

Sedum is now Hylotelephium??

perennialfan273
12 years ago

So, I was doing a search on that site that we aren't allowed to mention *hint hint* and apparently sedum is being classified as hylotelephium now. Does anyone know the reason for this?? Also, it appears that not all species of sedum are included in this new genus, as I didn't see a lot of the spreading varieties when I clicked on the genus hyperlink.

Comments (11)

  • rusty_blackhaw
    12 years ago

    I'm sure the graduate botanists who churn out these revisions can cite compelling taxonomic reasons, as well as justifications for whatever re-revisions emerge later. I suspect one of them is the need to publish papers to assure one's academic status. The end results of these name changes are often bewildering and in the case of plants like sweet autumn clematis the switcheroos become ludicrous.

    Rest assured that garden centers and mail-order nurseries are slow to adopt confusing nomenclature changes, and you will find Sedum for sale for a very long time to come.

    Excuse me, I've got to go pinch my Dendranthemas now, assuming they are not actually Argyranthemums, Leucanthemopsis, Leucanthemums or Rhodanthemums.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    12 years ago

    sedum is being classified as hylotelephium now

    And has been for a number of years. And new world asters are now Symphyotrichum, Cimicifuga is now Actaea, Cupressocyparis is now Callitropsis, etc., etc., etc.

    Taxonomists reclassify and change plant names constantly, based on ongoing research into the plants and their genetic make up. It takes a long time, if ever, for these name changes to filter down into the retail nursery or the gardening world. In most cases, unless you are a taxonomist or botanist, it is unimportant in the overall scheme of things :-)

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    12 years ago

    All I have to say is, if they're going to invent new names, use less letters! There's no need for that many syllables. Sheesh!

  • coolplantsguy
    12 years ago

    What they've done to the Dicentra genus is despicable IMO.

  • denninmi
    12 years ago

    Didn't good old garden mums go full circle from Chrysanthemum through the various other genera and finally back to Chrysanthemum? IIRC, that was the scenario over the last 20 years.

    As to why the botanists love to do this? Job security? Just to be mean? The Devil Made Me Do It a la Flip Wilson?

    It can kill with a bloom
    It can wound with its leaves
    It can ruin your faith with its casual floppiness
    And it only reveals what it wants you to see
    It hides like an Arisaema,
    But is's always a Sedum to me

    With my deepest apologies to Billy Joel (and the rest of you).

  • paulsiu
    12 years ago

    Well, if the name change tomorrow, a sedium will still look and behave like a Sedium, so from a gardner's standpoint, it doesn't matter all that much.

    Paul

  • ghoghunter
    12 years ago

    In these parts we just call the whole bunch "never dies"!

  • njmomma
    12 years ago

    As a future landscape architect, should I be learning the new names or stick with the old (aka the names I already know!)?

  • SteveGrund
    11 years ago

    Just a clarification here. Hylotelephium only applies to a limited number of species, the most commonly encountered of which is H. telephium (Sedum telephium, S. purpureum), among other common names, known as live-forever. As far as I know, all of the small-leaved sedums are still treated in the genus Sedum.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    Eric, I totally agree, it's a bunch of self-important BS, changing the names of plants. There is no need to attach genetic info to plant names.

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