BURRITO  Moran, 1977

Distribution : Mexico (Veracruz)

Description ( by 't Hart & Bleij in IHSP, 2003) :

Glabrous perennial herbs with stems branching freely near the base, first erect, then pendent, glaucous-green, 50 cm long or more.

Leaves crowded, in 5 obvious spirals, elliptic, obtuse, turgid, subterete, bluish-glaucous, 12 - 16 x 6 – 9 mm, 5 - 7 mm thick, flowering branches pendent.

Inflorescences corymbs, pedicels 8 - 12 mm, slightly thickened upwards.

FIowers 5-merous, sepals broadly sessile, connate, unequal, triangular-ovate, subacute to obtuse, 5 – 7 x 6 - 8 mm, petals basally connate, ovate, narrowly rounded, subcucullate, subdorsally mucronate, pink with deeper pink irregular lines, 7 - 8 mm, filaments pink, anthers light yellow, nectar scales broad, emarginate, deep pink.

Cytology : 2n = 69

Closely related to S. morganianum.

Note :

In Cactus and Succulent Journal US 89(1), 2017, Myron Kimnach reduced Sedum burrito to a cultivar of S. morganianum. He wrote : "Sedum burrito, published by Reid Moran in 1977 as an ally of S. morganianum Walther, differs primarily in its smaller leaves. In February, 1988, Doug Anderson, a wholesale supplier of succulents in Junction City, Oregon, obtained a plant of S. morganianum from the now deceased Paul Hutchison. Sometime later he observed a stem of Sedum burrito growing amidst stems of S. morganianum. However, he did not take a photo of them before removing the S. burrito stem for propagation. Around 2013 he did bring me cuttings of each and I could see that each was properly identified, so 'Burrito' is apparently a vegetative sport. Although the plant is sometimes listed as S. morganianum 'Burrito' on the Internet and in catalogs, I think a proper formal combination would be desirable."

And he added : "An example of a similar sport is Crassula ‘Baby’s Surprise’, which in Australia around 1993 sprouted from a stem of one of my hybrids, C. ‘Baby’s Necklace’."

Discussion :

While there is no doubt that C. ‘Baby’s Surprise’ is a vegetative sport of C. ‘Baby’s Necklace’ because their flowers are the same, this is not at all correct for S. burrito and S. morganianum - their flowers are distinctly different as the illustration in Moran’s description of Sedum burrito proves :