This is not L. texanum, but L. acutifolium. The leaves are too broad, and too green for L. texanum.

Based on my experience growing this plant for more than 50 years, the description of "leaves too broad and too green for L. texanum" is not sufficient to persuade me it's enough to justify the move from texanum to acutifolium.

The appearance of my plant is due to the conditions it's growing under. I choose that because it produces a greener, plusher plant growth. Grown in full sun and without regular supplemental water, it will not have green growth and the leaves will be more narrow. How green the leaves are seems dependent on how much direct sun reaches it and how wide the leaves grow seems directly tied to the regularity of supplemental water. When leaves fall off and form colonies on the ground, it grows very low forming a rather sparse intermittent mat of growth, but the width and color of the leaves is still dependent on the amount of moisture and the amount of sunlight. When grown in sun and without regular water, it doesn't look like the one in my photo. I just think as a container plant this is the best presentation and is obviously my preference.

Otherwise, when I originally obtained the plant it's origin was given as a collected native plant in the area of the valley where L. texanum grows and the name under which I originally got the plant was as Sedum texanum. I referred to it as a type of sedum for a long time. There were probably more details at the time, but it was a long time ago, so some info has likely faded in the subsequent years.

@Castello_decorum do you have more info where the move may be justified? I'm not going to say it's definitivly texanum, but would need more than the descriptive objection given with the knowledge of how it grows otherwise and the presumed origins in the beginning.

Thanks

@needrain
Hello Donald,

I would be more than happy to provide more information about this. Lenophyllum texanum remains a purplish orange color even when grown in the shade. It never really gets as green as your plant shown in the photo. Lenophyllum acutifolium also becomes purplish or reddish when grown in full sun, but in the shade it is mostly green, like your plant's coloration. Lenophyllum acutifolium is described as having "elliptic-lanceolate" (broad and pointy) leaves, while texanum is described as having more acuminate (narrow and pointy) leaves.

I have some images for comparison, including some photos from the crassulaceae website.

This is my plant when grown in full shade. It is greenish, but not as green as your plant. Also notice how the leaves are much narrower and thicker.

L. texanum from the Crassulaceae website. These plants were clearly grown in bright light, because they are very colorful.


https://www.crassulaceae.ch/de...

In contrast, your plant has broader and greener leaves. Also notice how your plant's leaves are more flattened out and canoe shaped compared to mine.

Your plant better matches L. acutifolium from the crassulaceae website. The images there are clearly L. acutifolium grown in full shade.


https://www.crassulaceae.ch/de...

Let me know if you have any more questions.

In my very humble opinion,
Castello_decorum

I do have one question. What is the native range of acutifolium? Since mine was presumably collected in the valley area of Texas, it would be in the native range of texanum and a cursory search of acutifolium has designated northern Mexico as the range. Not that far apart in some ways, but possibly significant.

I would note that I've grown mine in conditions that produced growth that matches the second photo. In fact, when I saw it in the clay container I wondered if it was a photo of mine. I think not. Photos of plants I grow is a relatively recent event for me. For years I didn't even own a camera. I would also note the reddish coloring never completely disappears, even grown in shade. The green just becomes more prominent. As for the shape of the leaves, that is so dependent on the amount of water the plant receives, it's not convincing to me as a distinguisable feature unless each one was grown side x side under the exact conditions and care. My plant is extremely variable in the face it shows depending on the growing conditions. Much more changeable than any sedum I've grown.

A final question. Is there a link to the Crassulaceae website?

Your thoughts.

Thanks

Hello Donald,
The links are in my post above (under the images). But I'll also put them here.
https://www.crassulaceae.ch/de...
https://www.crassulaceae.ch/de...

Thank you @Castello_decorum
I managed to look right past those. Old folks do that .

I looked at my book on the Crassulaceae (which is the source for the crassulaceae.ch pages) and tried to pry out differences between those two species. L. acutifolium has leaves 2-5 x 0.5-1.5cm, L. texanum has leaves 1-2.5 x 0.4-1cm. That's kind of the biggest overall difference I have found. The former species is found in Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas) whereas the latter is also found in Texas, supposedly below 100m in both countries.

I am inexperienced with this genus and don't have much more wisdom to offer. Whenever there is any doubt or dispute about a species name, the genus entry would serve as a good neutral ground for the image in question.