Mystery Plant from Cutting

  An amazing and rewarding aspect of growing succulents is their ability to "reverse" growth to create entire new plants from cuttings of leaves and stems. Not every piece of a succulent plant will turn into a new plant. Some will simply rot, some will dry out. Sometimes, however, the little cutting gets just enough warmth and water to turn itself into an entirely new plant.

The tiny plant is hiding under the white senecio.

  Every time I put new plants in the ground I take iPhone photos so I can monitor the plants' growth. When looking through some photos, I noticed that there was a little succulent hiding under one of the Senecio herrianus, or white senecios. I didn't notice the plant when I put the senecio in the ground, but when I saw it in the photo I went out and plucked it.

The plant after removing it from its original location.

It's adorable! It also needs to get a break from all of that sun. The plant is "stressed" from the sun, and has turned itself red as a sort of sunblock. Not sure what sort of succulent it was, I brought it inside to a window-box nursery where I keep my small cuttings until they root enough to plant. If the plant continued to thrive, I would be able to identify it eventually. It's like a lottery.

About 2-3 weeks later. 

  Obviously less stressed, the plant has turned green, and the original leaf is almost completely desiccated, as the baby plant has "sucked out" all of the nutrients. The red shiny threads are the roots, and they are NOT very sturdy ones! Some succulents seem to grow red/pink roots, and some grow white roots. The white roots seem to be "sturdier" than the red ones.

One month after bringing inside to "nursery."

   The plant is now completely green and much larger. I've left the desiccated leaf attached to use as a sort of grip, as the plant is still very small and the roots quite delicate. I'm thinking it's a type of graptoleum. One of the biggest problems with succulents is identification. Very few nurseries seem to label their plants correctly, and most home store nursery plants have useless labels that don't even provide a colloquial name.

One month later.

  I have no idea what this is. Well, I know it isn't an aeonium, and it isn't a euphorbia, and it's definitely not an aloe or agave... that only leaves thousands of possibilities! If you want to know exactly what you're growing, purchase your plants from a succulent/cactus nursery. They are much more likely to be able to give you the correct name of whatever specimen you purchase. There are very few books on succulents that identify them in a way helpful to the home gardener.