CLASS XI. ORDER IV.] SEMPERVIVUM. 681 



R. fruidculosa) ;'' and it is furtber slated that Mr. Mackay, in his 

 Cat. of PI. of Ireland, gives Portmarnock sands as the station for 

 R. alba ; but in his Flora Hibernica he refers it to R.fruticulosa, but 

 considers it as a plant escaped from gardens. 



ORDER IV. 



DODECAGYN'IA. 12 Pistils. 



GENUS V. SEMPERVrVUM.— Linn. Houseleek. 



Nat. Ord. CRASSULA'cEiE. Db Cand. 



Gen. Char. Calyx six to twelve cleft. Petals six to twelve. 

 Stamens twice as many as there are petals. Ovaries as many as 

 there are petals. — Name from semper^ always ; and vivo^ to live i 

 from its being always green. 



1. «S\ tecto'rum, Linn. (Fig. 778) Common Houseleek. Leaves 

 oblong, ovate, acuminate, smooth, with ciliated margins; offsets with 

 the leaves crowded into a rosaceous form ; petals lanceolate, acuminate, 

 twice as long as the calyx, the margins hairy. 



English Botany, t. 1320. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 350. — Hooker, 

 British Flora^ vol, i. p. 221. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 65. 



Root fibrous, from a thick fleshy stock, from which numerous ofi'sets 

 arise, crowded with numerous leaves in rosaceous tufts. Leaves thick, 

 fleshy, of a cheerful green, pinkish at the point, oblong ovate, with an 

 acuminate point, terminating in a mucro, keeled at the back, and the' 

 margins ciliated with simple hairs, sometimes also scattered over the 

 under side. Flowering stem erect from the centre of the lateral tufts 

 of leaves, from twelve to eighteen inches high, round, succulent, scat- 

 tered over with leaves, and more or less downy. Inflorescence of 

 terminal cymose branches, crowded with nearly sessUe Jlowers from the 

 axis of linear bracteas. Calyx of one piece, cleft in from six to twelve 

 linear acute segments. Corolla of the same number of petals as the 

 calyx segments, and alternating with them, lanceolate, spreading, pink. 

 Stamens twice the number of the petals, with awl-shaped filaments, 

 bearing roundish anthers, of two cells, alternately abortive, and perfect. 

 Ovaries the same number as there are petals, terminated in a short 

 style, with an obtuse stigma, and containing numerous ovules, arranged 

 along the inner margins. 



Habitat.— 0)6. walls, house tops, &c. ; frequent, but naturalized. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



The Houseleek is a well known domestic plant, and has long been 

 held in high esteem as a cooling application to burns, bruises, inflam- 

 mations, &c. The leaves are used alone, or more generally bruised 



