XOTES OX SEDUM 55 



cymas latas laxas dispositis, carpellis margine interiore concavis, 

 distinguenda. 



Herha glabra, decidua, perennis. Caudex crassus, brevissimus, 

 inferne radices fibrosas robustas superne caules multos emittens. 

 Caules perennes, circ. 15 cm. longi, erecti vel diffusi vel procumbentes, 

 minute tuberculati, circa 5 mm, crassi, inferne nudi atrobrminei, 

 ramos breves patentes foliosos steriles et floriferos consimiles emit- 

 tentes. Folia alterna, nonnunquam subternata, subconferta, sessilia, 

 plana, carnosa, Integra, glabra, spathulata vel late oblanceolata, 2 cm. 

 longa, "6 cm. lata, basi cmieata, calcarata, apice obtusa vel subapicu- 

 lata ; calcar breve, trmicatmn. Injioy^escentia plana, 5-7'5 cm. lata, 

 ramis tribus patentibus plerumque dichotomis minute mammillatis. 

 Bractece inferiores foliis similes, superiores lineares. Flores 1-5 cm. 

 diametro, aurei, infimus pedicellum a3quans, cseteri subsessiles vel 

 sessiles. Sepala foliis similia, valde inaequalia, deltoidea vel oblongo- 

 linearia vel oblongo-lanceolata vel oblongo-spathulata, obtusa, 3-10 mm. 

 longa, carnosa, fere ad imum libera, non calcarata, pallide viridia 

 Pefala ovata acuminata, vel lanceolata, 7*5 mm. longa, patentia, pulcbre 

 aurea, mucronem brevem post apicem ferentia. Stamina petalis paullo 

 breviora, erecto-patentia, filamentis aureis sursum angustatis, antheris 

 rubescentibus. Squamcs quadratse, subretusse, pallide aurese. GarpeUa 

 gracilia, stamina sequantia, pallide aurea, primo erecta, margine interna 

 concava stylisque contiguis, postea divergentia ; styli longi, graciles. 

 Fructus stellatus, 1 cm. diametro. 



Hah. Yunnan. Raised from seed sent in 1915 by Eev. E. E. 

 Maire from Tong-tchouan, labelled " Eboullis des rochers des pics, 

 altitude 2800 metres." 



The flowers of the batch of plants raised showed a variety of 

 colour unusual in Sedum. The petals varied from pale straw-yellow 

 to deep orange, and in some the stamens and inner face of the carpels 

 were crimson, and the scales flushed with red. The plant takes its 

 name from this circumstance. 



Section Semperviyotdes, Series Sempervivoides sensu stricto. 



Sedum indicum a. Hamet {Crassula indica Decne ; Sedum pani- 

 culatum Wall.). A packet of seed sent in 1915 by Pere E. E. 

 Maire produced a crop of Sempervivum-like plants which displayed 

 great variation in all their parts — leaves, stem, inflorescence, and all 

 portions of the flower — as regards form, texture, and colour. The 

 range of variation was greater, for instance, than that found among 

 the British fruticose Kubi ; but nevertheless it seems best to retain 

 all under S. iiidicum as variants of a single polymorphic species, 

 bestowing varietal rank on the mcst distinct undescribed departure 

 from what may be taken as the type. 



The species is a biennial, producing in the first year a leaf -rosette 

 closely resembling those of some of the European Sempervivums 

 (and found occasionally among Sedums, as in S. sempervivoides 

 Fisch. and its allies from the Caucasus region, and S. orichalcum 

 W. W. Sm. from Yunnan). From the centre of the rosette is pro- 

 duced in the second year a leafy simple or branched flower-stem 

 bearing a large paniculate inflorescence of small whitish or reddish 

 flowers, with five erect free petals and live stamens. 



