Sedum spurium or acre: red mat or yellow moss
Updated: 21 October 2026
You are choosing between a red mat and a yellow moss, and both packets say sedum. Sedum spurium or acre is that fork: Sedum spurium coccineum and Sedum acre are different plants that share a search word, a fine seed, and a habit of being sold as carpet. Flower colour and the height printed on the listing are how you tell them apart before you spend £1.82 or £5.99. This page stays on the named spurium and acre lines. Purple carpet titles that never finish the Latin name stay off this decision. The full set of prices is the [sedum seeds comparison](/hub/seeds-and-plants/sedum-seeds).
You are choosing between a red mat and a yellow moss, and both packets say sedum.
You are choosing between a red mat and a yellow moss, and both packets say sedum. Sedum spurium or acre is that fork: Sedum spurium coccineum and Sedum acre are different plants that share a search word, a fine seed, and a habit of being sold as carpet. Flower colour and the height printed on the listing are how you tell them apart before you spend £1.82 or £5.99. This page stays on the named spurium and acre lines. Purple carpet titles that never finish the Latin name stay off this decision. The full set of prices is the sedum seeds comparison.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Species | Light on listing | Height as printed | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  TRTO TRTO Sedum spurium, 160 seeds | Spurium coccineum | Full sun | 8–15 cm | 7.0 | about £5.99 | View offer |
 Just Seed Just Seed Sedum spurium coccineum | Spurium coccineum | Partial shade | 15 cm | 9.5 | about £1.99 | View offer | |
| Best value |  Just Seed Just Seed Sedum acre | Sedum acre | Full sun | 65 cm on listing | 8.6 | about £1.82 | View offer |
On this page
What the red spurium packets are for
Sedum spurium coccineum is the red or pink mat. Just Seed lists 200 seeds at £1.99: pink, 15 centimetres, partial shade, no sowing block, and 3.8 from 106, with titles for germination and for no growth.
TRTO's 160-seed packet at £5.99 and the 240-seed packet at £6.99 say crimson, a mat 8 to 15 cm tall, full sun, and do not cover. Their stars are 5.0 and 4.5 from two reviews. Buy TRTO for the printed method. Buy Just Seed for the review file. Purple carpet titles never finish the species. They stay on the sedum seeds buying guide.
What the yellow acre packets are for
Sedum acre is the yellow moss, also called common stonecrop or gold moss. Just Seed lists 200 seeds at £1.82, full sun, 3.7 from 31 reviews, including a title that says not one came up. That is the best value packet for this species. Moisture says regular watering. That is not a bog plant.
The height field prints 65 centimetres. Pinkdose, also Sedum acre, 200 seeds at £5.99, prints 3 inches, 3.3 from 23, and no excerpts. Those reviews are flagged as mostly US. Treat 65 centimetres as a listing clash. Choose acre for yellow flowers. Skip it when the bed should read as crimson.
Side by side, then one recommendation
Pick the colour first, then the Just Seed packet of that species. Spurium at £1.99 for the red or pink mat. Acre at £1.82 for yellow, with the 65 cm field treated as a clash. Step up to TRTO only for printed sowing sentences and two reviews. Do not step up to Pinkdose. You pay more and lose the UK review text.
The RHS puts both in one germination row: uncovered, light, a long window. TRTO prints that only on spurium. Do not bury acre because the packet left the sentence out. The steps are on how to sow sedum seeds. Sow both only in separate patches, or you cannot tell which packet failed.
White spurium is not a third species
A white carpet title says Sedum spurium, not a new Latin name and not acre. It asks £5.99 for 200 seeds and has no reviews and no sowing block. Leave it off this decision unless white flowers are the whole point. Purple carpet packets never confirm spurium or acre. An album mix will not settle a red-versus-yellow argument.
If you are still torn, use the review counts rather than the word carpet. One hundred and six UK reviews on pink-field spurium against thirty-one on yellow acre is a real difference, and both beat a five-star pair. The flower you want still outranks that. A yellow bed sown with the better-reviewed red packet is the wrong saving.
Common questions
Which one stays lower?
The spurium listings agree on a low mat: 15 cm on Just Seed, 8 to 15 cm on the TRTO bullets. Acre does not agree with itself. Just Seed prints 65 cm and Pinkdose prints 3 inches. Do not plan a 65 cm clump from the Just Seed acre field. Treat that number as a clash.
Which flower colour do I get?
Spurium coccineum is the red or pink side. Just Seed's field says pink. TRTO's bullets say crimson. Acre is yellow on Just Seed and gold on Pinkdose. White appears on a separate spurium title, not on the acre packets. Purple carpet is a colour word without a finished species.
Can I mix both in one bed?
You can, on a drained sunny site, if you sow them in patches you can tell apart. They use the same uncovered sowing method. The light fields still differ: partial shade on Just Seed spurium, full sun on TRTO spurium and on Just Seed acre. Mixing the seed in one bag makes later failures impossible to attribute.
Which has the better UK reviews?
Spurium. Just Seed's coccineum packet is 3.8 from 106. Just Seed's acre packet is 3.7 from 31. Both files include failure titles, which is useful. TRTO's two-review scores look higher and prove less. Pinkdose's 23 ratings are not the UK acre sample.
Is the sowing method the same?
Yes at the seed stage. The RHS sedum row covers both: uncovered, light, and a wait that can run to 90 days. TRTO only prints that method on spurium listings, at 14 to 28 days and 20 to 21 °C. The acre pages do not print it. You still should not bury acre because the packet forgot the sentence.
Is white spurium a third species?
No. The white carpet listing still says Sedum spurium. It is a flower-colour claim on the spurium side, at £5.99 with no reviews. It is not Sedum acre, and it is not a reason to treat purple carpet titles as spurium. Those purple packets never complete the name.
Related pages
Sources
Sources taken from the research digest.
- RHS — harvested seed germination requirements (retrieved October 2026)
- Seed Marketing Regulations 2011, regulation 4 (retrieved October 2026)
- Marketing of Ornamental Plant Propagating Material Regulations 1999 (retrieved October 2026)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9 (retrieved October 2026)
- BBC Gardeners' World — how to grow sedums (retrieved October 2026)
- Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Schedule 9 (retrieved October 2026)