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Sedum multiceps; photograph Karim Haddad, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYKarim Haddad, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Sedum multiceps Coss. & Durieu

Crassulaceae · Algeria · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Sedum multiceps, photograph Karim Haddad, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSedum multiceps, photograph Anis Dris, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSedum multiceps, photograph Anis Dris, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSedum multiceps, photograph Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSedum multiceps, photograph Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFSedum multiceps, photograph Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-1.3°C
Record low -4.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
810mm
9 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
15–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes October to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sedum multiceps, also known as miniature/pygmy Joshua tree, is a perennial, deciduous species of Sedum from the succulent plant family Crassulaceae, native to Algeria. The plant is nicknamed for its glaucous leaves that grow in clusters, resembling Yucca brevifolia. It was named officially as a distinct species in 1862.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sedum multiceps", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Sedum

Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into the southern hemisphere in Africa and South America. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sedum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Sedum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (605 mm of 810 mm) falls in October to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.2 °C against a yearly mean of 16.4 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

810 mm in the median year at the habitat, 605 mm of it October to March. Wettest month December at 137 mm, driest month July at 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 728 mm to 963 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 810 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 810 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 14, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -1.3 °C, the absolute minimum -4.9 °C, 520 frost nights in 44 years, 11.8 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 0.9 °C to 9.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.7 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +252 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Sedum in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sedum multiceps through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 5.0 °C; 810 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost35.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-4.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 15–48RH 53–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 8 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C13 / 9–1513 / 9–1616 / 12–1718 / 14–1921 / 18–2324 / 23–2827 / 26–3228 / 27–3225 / 23–2823 / 18–2417 / 13–1914 / 9–16
Night °C5 / 1–105 / 1–107 / 3–119 / 5–1312 / 9–1516 / 13–1919 / 16–2220 / 17–2317 / 14–2114 / 10–1810 / 6–147 / 2–11
Rain mm114 / 106–13584 / 79–9877 / 66–9371 / 56–8647 / 39–6317 / 11–265 / 3–910 / 9–1455 / 44–6584 / 65–96109 / 100–123137 / 128–158
DLI17 / 16–1823 / 22–2431 / 30–3238 / 37–3942 / 42–4347 / 46–4748 / 47–4842 / 41–4333 / 33–3525 / 25–2618 / 17–1915 / 14–16
RH %61 / 59–6160 / 60–6160 / 58–6159 / 56–6159 / 54–6356 / 51–6353 / 46–6254 / 48–6358 / 54–6458 / 56–6160 / 59–6060 / 60–62
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 8 grid cells holding the 19 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1069:3710 (36.525, 5.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -4.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 8 distinct grid cells holding 19 of the 19 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1069:3710 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_5.625, lapse-corrected +252 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 970 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAlgeria · introduced: Corse, Italy · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker36.597, 5.436 · in the densest population, 54 records (98% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 55 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 19 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 43 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 84 km away. 21 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 36 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 55 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sedum multiceps, photograph 1did not loadSedum multiceps, photograph 2did not loadSedum multiceps, photograph 3did not loadSedum multiceps, photograph 4did not loadSedum multiceps, photograph 5did not loadSedum multiceps, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Karim Haddad, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Anis Dris, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (2); Mehdi Chetibi, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Orchis italica Orchis italica Naked-man Orchid Photo: CC0, author not statedMicromeria graeca Micromeria graeca Greek Savory Photo: CC BY-SA, Domi MejíasNarcissus papyraceus Narcissus papyraceus Paper-white daffodil Photo: CC0, author not statedOrobanche ramosa Orobanche ramosa Hemp broomrape Photo: CC BY, Sam KieschnickCistus salviifolius Cistus salviifolius Sage-leaved Rock-rose Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaLavandula stoechas Lavandula stoechas French lavender Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinha

Other Sedum 114 in the reference

Sedum acre Sedum acre Biting stonecrop Photo: CC BY, Dmitriy BochkovSedum actinocarpum Sedum actinocarpum Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY, Francisca WuSedum adolphi Sedum adolphi Coppertone Stonecrop Photo: CC BY, chiuluanSedum album Sedum album White stonecrop Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinha Sedum alexanderi Crassulaceae Sedum allantoides Sedum allantoides Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY, Leonardo O. Alvarado CárdenasSedum alpestre Sedum alpestre Alpine Stonecrop Photo: CC0, author not statedSedum andegavense Sedum andegavense Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaSedum anglicum Sedum anglicum English stonecrop Photo: CC BY, Jon DaviesSedum annuum Sedum annuum Annual stonecrop Photo: CC BY, Andreas SchneiderSedum atratum Sedum atratum Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Emanuele SantarelliSedum bellum Sedum bellum Crassulaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, El Funcionario all 115 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipedia

The record

Family
Crassulaceae
Described by
Coss. & Durieu
Native to
Algeria
Wild records
55 in range · 43 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 36.50_5.625, lapse-corrected +252 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 14 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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