Sedum morganianum 'Burrito' - Hortus Botanicus, Leiden, NL 7 Mar 2009 Leo

One day I must find out the origins of this cultivar. It was labelled wrong at the botanic garden, as S. burrito, btw. If 'burrito' was the actual specific epithet, then Latin rules of grammar would make it 'Sedum burritum'.
The original name from Mexico for the species is 'Cola de Burro', this became 'Burro's Tail' in the USA (in the SW USA the word 'burro' is often used instead of 'donkey').
'Burrito' would either translate into 'little donkey', or a type of roasted Mexican taco.

Update Oct 2010: I have now realised I was wrong about a bunch of things.
-Sedum burrito was originally collected in Veracruz, Mexico, at a number of local nurseries by Paul Clifford Hutchison (1924-?), with the collection number 1328A, probably first grown at the Berkeley Botanic Garden in California.
-Sedum burrito Moran is a validly published name. It was published by Reid Venable Moran (1916-Feb 2010) in 1977 in the Los Angeles Cactus and Succulent Journal.
-The ending '-o' in this Latin binomial is grammatically acceptable, although this combination is extremely rare in Sedum. The two words may end in this manner if both are nominative nouns which do not agree in gender, 'sedum' is neutral, whereas 'burrito', whatever the etymology, is male

Needless to say, we need not agree with these people. Generally, experts seem to have withheld their opinion, merely mentioning that they are probably the same. S. morganianum was itself also found in Veracruz nurseries in the 1930's, and it has never been found in the wild again. Reports of it occurring elsewhere are simply false. S. morganianum has a chromosome number of 2n=70, S. burrito has been given 2n=69. 2n=69, huh??? This is of course very strange. 2n=69 is only possible in a hybrid or a mutant where incomplete crossing-over has occurred. 2n=69 almost has to be sterile.

Update Oct 2012: As pointed out at the allthingsplants website, this info behoves further tweaking. S. morganianum has recently [2006] finally been found in the wild (in Veracruz) for the first time. 'Burrito' remains unknown in the wild. I continue to doubt the validity of the species concept S. burrito, and, until shown other facts or the rules change, believe that the form should be considered a cultivar -there are no rules against selecting cultivars from deviant individuals in wild populations, the form was originally found as cultivated material anyway, and the population of this form constitutes as a single invariable clone. But someone does have to formally publish it for it to be completely official. Finally, an observation: if the karyotype data of 69 chromosomes is correct and 'Burrito' is a hybrid (which I do not think as likely as a meiotic mutant), then it is extremely likely the other parent is 2n=68, and is a species native to or commonly cultivated in Veracruz -that should make the candidate short-list much shorter.
Thanks guys!

Taken on: June 21, 2009

Tags:

Mexico

Sets appears in: • Crassulaceae

Groups appears in: • Sedum

Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 75, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, 5.8mm, ISO 80 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 75
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	5.8mm
ISO:	80
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Show full info

Stats: 4,513 views / 12 comments

go back

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: