126 THE 8T0NE-CE0P FAMILY. 



are remarkable for growing on sun-scorched rocks and naked walls, 

 on roofs, and sandy plains, sucli as plants differently constituted could 

 not endure for a day ; and though they are seen occasionally with 

 their roots in the earth, it is not that they require the soil as a source 

 of nutriment, but simply as anchorage. They take their food almost 

 entirely through the pores of the leaves, — those delicate mouths, or 

 *' siomaies," invisible to the naked eye, which serve in all plants as the 

 principal avenues of sustenance, and which, as proved in the present 

 instance, are competent to supersede the functions of the spongioles 

 altogether. Nothing is more extraordinary in English Botany than 

 to see the little Scdum acre sitting in golden epaulettes on the tops of 

 mountain walls, exposed to the hottest rays of the noontide sun, and 

 flourishing most where they come earliest and last the longest. The 

 red orpine will live for months, suspended by a string, without being 

 once supplied with water. I have had a branch of it grow freely 

 after being placed between papers and pressed for the herbarium. 

 The properties of the family are cooling and detergent, combined 

 in some cases with acridity. 



Sixteen species occur in England, and four of them, sparingly, 

 near Manchester. 



A. — Stamens ten; sepals and petals each five. 

 Stems two to three inches high ; leaves minute, solid, egg shaped. 



1. Flowers bright golden yellow Golden Stone-crop. 



2. Flowers white, tinged with rose-colour; leaves almost) Thick-leaved White. 



globular j Stone-crop. 



3. Stems twelve to eighteen inches high ; leaves broad, flat, \j. ^ 



oblong, thin. Flowers red or rosy purple ) 



'R.— Stamens usually twelve or twenty-four. 



4. Sepals and petals usually ten or twelve ; leaves broail,\ 



thick, solid, ending in a shaq) point, and collected I 



in dense rosettes, which hang together by cords, and I 



form mounds of a yard or two in circumference. r"0U8E-, 



Stems eiglit to sixteen inches liigh. Flowers red or 



rosy purple 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 

 1. Little Golden Stone-crop — (Scdum acre.) 

 Hedgebanks about Bowdon, and common at Marple, but leafier and 

 less fulgent than on rocks and walls. Fl. June, July. 

 Curtis, i. 32; E. B. xii. n3!) ; Baxter, v. 304. 

 Common upon rockeries, and sometimes immolated in the open borders. 



