String of pearls - real and fake

I love string of pearls plants (Senecio rowleyanus), I think they look amazing.  I grow a few and find them delightful.  There are a few different types.

Unfortunately, ebay thieves sell fake seeds of string of pearl plants that do not exist.  They sell thousands of dollars worth of fake seeds and keep getting away with it.

First, let me show you what types of string of pearls plants exist, then let me show you some of the fake seeds that thieves are selling through ebay.  Hopefully I can prevent at least one person from being stolen from.

All of the following pictures were found on actual online ads.  They are not my pictures. 


String of pearls plants that DO exist
Healthy string of pearls comes in green.  There is a variegated form (green and white), there is a giant form (also green), and that is all.  String of pearls ONLY come in green.

As string of pearls can be grown from seed, there are likely some forms that are slightly more pointy, and others that are slightly more round, but they are all green (or green and white).

If string of pearls is about to die or has some nutrient deficiency it may turn black, not a glossy nice black, more of a sickly about to die kind of black.  Mine get a slight purple tinge over winter when struggling through the cold, but they still look decidedly green.

 String of pearls giant form next to normal one - not my photo

These are some of my string of pearls plants - all green

Some of my string of pearls plants, starting to get long

Variegated string of pearls DO exist

Blue string of pearls DON'T exist
There are NO blue string of pearls plants.  There are NO red string of pearls plants.  There are NO purple string of pearls plants, or black string of pearls plants, or magical glow in the dark with sparkles that twinkle to the music, or any other amazing looking variants of string of pearls plants.

Below are some photos from ads I found that were claiming to sell amazing coloured string of pearls seeds.  Most had near 100% positive rating.  Most were from Australian sellers.  What they are advertising does NOT exist, what they are doing is illegal, it is theft by deception.

These ebay thieves sell fake seeds and usually get away with it.  You see, when you buy seeds from ebay you leave comments before the things grow.  Sure they will send you seeds, but they won't be blue string of pearls, they likely won't be string of pearls at all.  Most of these thieves just buy a packet of cheap seeds, they don't care what type, they rename them and post them out claiming that they are amazing blue string of pearls plant seeds.  It is easy money for these thieves.

Once you find out they were fakes it is too late to do anything.  Ebay could easily stop this type of theft, but they don't want to stop this as they make so much money by commission.  Ebay has even disabled the report button on many seed listings as they make far too much money from fake seeds.

Fake colour - this was photoshopped and does NOT exist

Fake colour - blue string of pearl does NOT exist

Fake colours - three of these colours DON'T exist

Fake colours - only green exists, the rest are photoshopped

Similar plants that DO exist
Senecio is a large genus that contains well over 1,000 species.  There are a few vaguely similar plants that are not string of pearls plants that DO exist.  None of them are ever the amazing vibrant colours in the photoshopped images above.

The string of bananas plant Senecio radicans exists.  They are green but instead of round pearls they have longer pointier leaves.  I am told that this is hardier than string of pearls.

The string of dolphins (aka dolphin necklack) plant Senecio peregrinu exists.  These are also green.  They look pretty cool on the right angle.

The string of watermelons succulent Senecio herreianus exists.  These are mostly green, some varieties have purplish veins on the leaves at times.  Some varieties have nice purple stems.

Blue chalk sticks Senecio serpens are almost kind of blue, I would call them grey/green.  These are probably the closest to blue that you will find.  They are not vibrant neon blue like the photoshopped string of pearls ads above.

Notice any trends here?  There are no vibrant electric blue or bright red ones.


How to know if it is real?
People say if something looks too good to be true then it probably isn't, but I say that is nonsense.  Normal string of pearls plants look too good to be true and they exist.  Most of the perennial vegetables and things I sell through my for sale page look too good to be true, but they exist.  I also sell string of pearls plants, the real ones, not seeds of fake colour photoshopped ones.

I have written a bunch of other blog posts about fake ebay seeds.  They are all labelled with 'things that don't exist' so you can search for them on my blog more easily.  There are a LOT of fake ebay seeds out there!

With string of pearls it is simple to know if they are real, only green or variegated green exists.  I know the other colours look amazing, I know, I wish they were real too, but they don't exist and they never will.


Rules for buying seeds from ebay

1. If anyone is selling seeds of ANYTHING that is doesn't exist, then don't buy anything from them EVER.  They happily steal from people so why would they do the right thing by you?  Even if they list some things that do exist, what makes you think that they would even have them?  They are thieves, you can't trust them.
    
2. If anyone is selling ANY orchid seeds, don't by anything from them EVER.  Orchid seeds exist, but getting them to germinate is beyond the average home gardener.  Most ebay orchid seeds have images that have been photoshopped.
    
3. Don't buy any seeds from overseas through ebay.  Just don't do it.
   
4. Ask yourself, does the person sell plants or just seeds?  If only seeds then you may have to look closer.  Does anyone sell these plants?  If no one sells plants online then they probably don't exist.
    
5. Other than that, try to do some research.  While there are many fake ebay seeds being sold by thieves, there is also a small percentage of genuine people selling real things.  I don't buy seeds from ebay, but there is a small chance that you may be lucky.

If you are one of these ebay thieves feel fee to leave a comment and try to justify your deception.  Don't just rant at me because I am trying to prevent you from stealing people's money.  Perhaps you bought bulk seed and didn't realise they were fake - this is still illegal and immoral.

If you claim that blue string of pearls plants (or any of the other fake colours) do exist then send me a cutting and I will make it worth your time.  My blog gets tens of thousands of views each year.  I will gladly show pictures of these amazing things, not just photoshopped pictures, and would gladly send thousands of customers to buy them from you.