CRASSULACE^— ORPINE FAMILY 



LIVE-FOREVER. ORPINE 



Sedum teUphium 



Sedum, from the lowly habit of many of the species. 



A common perennial with smooth, fleshy leaves, natural- 

 ized from Europe, and found growing in tufts by road- 

 sides and in fence corners. 



Stems. — Stout, pale green, tufted, smooth and slightly 

 glaucous, one to two feet high. 



Leaves. — Alternate, very smooth, fleshy, ov- 

 ate to obovate, obtuse, coarsely dentate, one 

 and a half to two inches long; more or less 

 sessile. 



Flowers. — Small, borne in flat, terminal clus- 

 ters, two to three inches across, pale, dull, 

 crimson-pink. 



Calyx. — Sepals five, ovate, acute. 



Corolla. — Petals five, twice as long as the 

 sepals. 



Stamens. — Five. 



Pistil. — Of five carpels which ripen into many-seeded 

 follicles, each tipped with a short style. 



Live-Forever often waits at the gates of old country 

 churchyards, wanders along fences, and establishes it- 

 self on roadsides. The plant is well known to country 

 children of New England and the Middle States. It 

 appears in tufts of many upright stems bearing coarse, 



75 



Leaf of Live- 

 Forever. 

 Sedum 

 teUphium 



