That's a Senecio haworthii. I'm afraid that only you can determine if it's being over or under watered. Gently slip the container off and inspect the root ball/soil system. Look for mushy roots or soggy soil or hard, dry pockets....any clues about what's going on inside that container.

Another possibility is that the one stem has been broken or damaged and can no longer transport water up from the roots to the rest of the plant.

Does this plant receive full sun?

When you say "sand" do you mean like, beach sand, or coarse builder's sand? The fact that you say the soil takes "awhile" to drain makes me think that the soil is holding a lot of water. Let us know how the roots look, but a picture of the potting mix you are using might help, too.

I don't know where you are located (and I have a tendency to kill succulents--they are the most challenging house plants for me) but my succulents do not get watered much at all due to this very circumstance. Some would call it neglect, but plants like sansevieria like it really REALLY dry.

Very cool looking plant, though. Adding this to the wish list! : )

Thanks to you both for your comments! It was helpful to know what to look for. I slipped the plant out of its pot, and found that the soil and roots were still damp, even though I haven't watered the plant in quite awhile. Also, I discovered it only has one main "trunk" and all the arms are offshoots. Unfortunately two of the offshoots were completely mushy at the base. I cut them off and also removed any shriveled up or mushy "leaves". (Strange that some leaves were shriveled up as though they had dried up and others were mushy as though they were water-logged and started to rot.) I'm afraid the plant is too far gone already - the main stems leading up to the offshoots are yellowish and although they are still pretty firm, I think the base is rotting a bit. Also, even though I slipped it out of the pot very carefully, nearly half of the rootball stayed in the pot. I didn't even feel it break off, so maybe it was already broken, but either way there aren't a lot of roots left. I'm going to leave it out of the pot overnight to make sure the roots dry out completely, and I left the potting mix spread out on a paper towel to dry thoroughly. It's too bad because it's a lovely plant. I just didn't realize how little water it actually needs. :(

Maybe I can take a cutting from it and try to propagate it, though. Anyone know if I can just take off one of the "leaves" and propagate from that, or do I need to take a cutting of the whole plant?

Sorry to hear about your plant. Succulents are hard for me, too. They are so easy to "over-love" with water. I hope you can salvage it because it really is gorgeous!

Hmm. Mine is bluish and I've never seen such white one!

Here is what I would recommend:

These cuttings, made at the blue lines, look completely salvageable. However, when you make the cut, you want to check the inside of the stem to make sure it's a clean, clear color with no black. If there's any black, just cut it further up until you get to no black/grey.

After you make the cut, pull off the bottom leaves -- usually it takes 2-3 leaves to give me enough stem to "plant" it. Put it aside after you pull off the leaves for a day or two.

After the day or two, make a very gritty, very porous mix and stick the cuttings in there, propped up with stones, if need be. With clean cuttings (meaning no roots), I'd wait at least a week or more before slowly spritzing with just a little bit of water.

If this is indoors (which it looks like it is), then the same spot is fine. If outdoors, put the cuttings in very bright but absolute SHADE, no direct sun for a bit.

The 3-4 cuttings you can get out of this should do great. The main base, you can try potting into a much better mix after cutting and snipping away all rot, drying it for a couple days and repotting. You never know...these plants, like people, can be resilient.

Gorgeous plant---hope it recovers!

Grace, thanks very much for the detailed instructions and very helpful picture! :) I had actually already done the cuttings, because they were getting mushier by the minute, it was creeping up the stalks. But thankfully I did exactly what you said - some of them I had to cut further up the stalk until I got to a part that was bright green inside instead of brown. But it's good to know that I did it right. I also left them to dry for a day before replanting them. Hopefully I did it right and they will root again. If not, I'll have to look for the same plant again at the Baumarkt where I bought it - it's my favorite! :)

Oh good! What kind of soil did you use?

Whatever you do, just keep them dry and later, only a little water available in the soil.

Good luck to you!

I actually just dried out the soil that came with the plant and reused it. Probably not ideal, but I don't have any other soil, and I knew if I waited until I had time to go to a hardware/gardening store in search of a special succulent/cactus soil, the plant would die sitting exposed! It was perfectly healthy for many months after I got it, though, so I think the problem was overwatering. If I'm very careful about that hopefully it'll survive. Thanks again!

Ayyyy...I'd send you some mix to use, but judging by your usage of Celsius, I presume you're outside the U.S.? It would make no financial sense then.

Yes, definitely do not overwater! :-)