N. ORD.—CRASSULACEA. 
GENUS.—PENTHORUM »* GRONOV, 
SEX. SYST.—DECANDRIA PENTAGYNIA, 
PENTHORUM. 
DITCH STONE CROP. 
SYN.—PENTHORUM SEDOIDES, LINN. 
COM. NAMES.—DITCH OR VIRGINIA STONE CROP. 
A TINCTURE OF THE WHOLE PLANT PENTHORUM SEDOIDES, LINN. 
Description.— [his homely perennial grows to a height of from 8 to 12 inches. 
Stem erect, somewhat angled, simple or somewhat branched; /eaves scattered, 
nearly sessile, lanceolate, acute at both ends, and sharply serrate, /n/florescence 
a loose terminal cyme of revolute spikes ; flowers yellowish-green, arranged along 
the upper surface of the branches of the cyme; fedtce/s glandularly pubescent. 
Calyx pubescent below; sepads 5, cuneate, acute. /e¢a/s rarely present. Stamens 
10; filaments smooth; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. /¢st/s 5, united 
below; s¢ydes short, forming beaks in fruit; s¢zgmas small, capitate. Fruit a 5- 
angled, -horned, and -celled capsule, opening by the falling off of the beaks; car- 
pels many seeded; seeds ellipitical, pointed. 
Crassulaceee.—This family of mostly succulent herbs is represented in North 
America by 6 genera, 47 species, and 2 varieties. Leaves mostly sessile ; stpules 
none. Jnflorescence cymose or racemose; flowers perfectly symmetrical. Calyx 
mostly monosepalous and free from the ovaries; sefa/s 3 to 20, persistent, and 
united at the base. Cvro//a sometimes monopetalous, sometimes wanting ; fetads 
if present imbricated in the bud and inserted with the stamens. Séamens distinct, 
equal to, or twice as many as, the sepals, inserted upon the base of the calyx. Fséz/s 
distinct (exc. Penthorum), minutely scaled at the base. /7wz¢ a cluster of follicles 
opening along the inner suture (exc. Penthorum). Seeds numerous, anatropous ; 
embryo straight; albumen thin. 
This order yields but few medicinal plants, and those of little prominence. 
~The common European Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum, Linn.), whose leaves 
are cooling and astringent; the Orpine (Sedum Telephium, Linn.), whose leaves, 
boiled with milk, have been used by the laity as a remedy in diarrhoea; and the 
Stone Crop (S. acre, ‘Linn,)—whose apparently dechlorophylled leaves make a 
fitting cover for the old ruins which afford the plant a habitat throughout Europe— 
is acrid, and has been recommended in cancerous troubles and epilepsy.—(Daoc- 
trine of Signatures ?) 
* Tlévre, pente, five ; Spos, oros, a rule ; from the floral symmetry. 
