Addisonia 3 



(Plate 122) 



SEDUM SPECTABILE 

 Showy Sedum 



Native of Japan? 

 Family Crassulaceae Orpine Family 



Sedum speclabile Boreau, Mem, Soc. Acad. Maine-et-Loire 20: 116. 1866. 



A perennial herb, of robust, bushy habit, with erect fleshy stems, 

 one and a half to two feet high, bearing glaucous green leaves and 

 clusters of usually pink flowers. The fleshy leaves are usually in 

 whorls of three, sometimes opposite, the lower ones two inches wide 

 and three inches long, the upper slightly smaller; they are ovate to 

 spatulate, wedge-shaped at the base, and their margins are toothed. 

 The leaves of the inflorescence are small and entire. The flowers 

 are numerous, in flat- topped, leafy cymes; their color is usually 

 pink, varying somewhat to white and purple. The sepals are 

 greenish, lanceolate, and acute, and are about one third the length 

 of the five lanceolate, spreading petals. The stamens are ten in 

 number, five of them short and attached to the petals near the base, 

 the other five nearly twice as long and alternate with the petals; 

 the filaments are white or pink and the anthers orange. The ovary 

 has five cells, which ripen into five free foUicles. 



The showy sedum has been in cultivation since about 1860, under 

 various names given to it by horticulturists. It was first described 

 by Boreau in 1866. The original plants were said to have been 

 introduced from Japan, but late records of the flora of that country 

 do not include Sedum spectahile, so its nativity is uncertain. Per- 

 haps this species is identical with the one cultivated by Vilmorin 

 before 1860, under the name Sedum Fabaria. It is one of the bushy, 

 robust sedums, closely related to the live-for-ever, 5. triphyllum. 



Although adapted to greenhouse culture, Sedum spectahile is best 

 grown in the herbaceous border; it hkes a rather sandy soil and a 

 sunny location. Broad masses in the center of a border make a 

 sea of pink bloom in September, which attracts hundreds of butter- 

 flies and other flying visitors. Propagation is readily efi"ected by 

 seeds, cuttings, or division of the clumps. 



The plant from which the illustration was prepared has been in 

 the collections of the New York Botanical Garden for many years. 



Kenneth R. Boynton. 



Kxpi^ANATiON OP Pi,ATE. Fig. 1.— Flowcrmg stem. Fig. 2.— Flower, cut 

 open, exposing the pistils, X 3. Fig. 3. — Petal, with stamens, X 2. 



