SEDUM. — SEMPERVIVUM. 8.*^ 



224. Sedum telephium. Orpyne : Orpin: ©vpffg. Very 

 rare. B. On the borders of a field one mile N. of Eyemouth, spa- 

 ringly. Rev. A. Baird. Near Coldingham on road-sides. — R. In 

 the vale of the Bovrmont, Rev. A. Baird. — Cultivated in rustic gar- 

 dens, for Orpy-leaves are a popular vulnerary. For some curious ~ 

 customs associated with the plant see Brand's Pop. Antiquities, i. 

 p. 329. 



225. S. viLLOsuM. B. Grows in wet and boggy ground, scat- 

 tered over the entire range of the Lammermoors, yet so dispersed as 

 to make the botanist count it among those flowers he prizes for rarity 

 as well as for beauty. — N. It is common enough amongst the Cheviots ; 

 and it grows on the basaltic heights between Belford and Bambrough. 

 July. 



226. S. ANGLicuM. Holy-Island, on the Heugh and about the 

 Castle. July. 



227. S. acre. Don Gard. Diet. iii. 119. ^toitf^crop. On 

 dikes capt with earth, and on rocks in deans, common. June. Often 

 removed to the garden to ornament walls and rock-work ; and cot- 

 tagers plant it on their window-sills, and on the roof of the porch, 

 where it grows untended, pleasant and evergreen in the leaf, and 

 cheerful when in flower. In winter the herbage is purplish-brown. 

 On chewing a bit of it, no particular taste is at first perceptible ; but, 

 in a few minutes, an acrid and peculiarly disagreeable sensation in 

 the throat follows, and which lasts a considerable time. This acridity 

 is much weakened, and often entirely lost, when the Stonecrop is in 

 flower. 



12. Sempervivum tectorum. f^ou^c-ILfcfe: Jfbo^or jfuctS. Planted 

 on the roofs of cottages, and especially on that of the smithy, where 



16. Sedum reflexum. — Has been observed in one or two places on earth- 

 capt dikes, but in our district too obviously the mere outcast of the 

 garden. July. 



17- S. album. "Near the village of Ildertou, on an old wall, Sedum album 

 was found in great profusion and beauty. Whether truly indigenous, it is 

 difficult to say, but I do not think we are justified in at once asserting, as 

 is often done, that the plant must have been planted, as it is so near a 

 village." R. Embleton in Trans. Berw. N. Club, ii. p. 356. — I know Ilder- 

 ton and its garden well ; and sixty years ago this was indeed a garden 

 remarkable in many respects, and not least so for the variety and number 

 of good old flowers grown in it, — old familiar flowers now become unfa- 

 miliar to this generation : — Silver and Golden Rods, Baclielor's-Buttons, 

 yellow and white, Blue-Bottles, Peonies of monstrous size and beauty. 

 Southernwood, the blue Iris, Narcissuses, such as I have never since seen. 

 Daffodils, Solomon's-Seal, Star-of- Bethlehem, Orpin, Saxifrages, and every 

 herb that village doctress could require in her need. " Of this kind are 

 elder flowers, which are therefore proper for the stone ; dwarf-pine, which 

 is good for the jaundice ; piony, which is proper for stoppages in the head ; 

 fumitoiy, which is good for the spleen, and many others." — Lord Bacon. 

 All these were collected together, and cultivated in patterns, by an old 

 gentleman who had emigrated from France ; and from such a garden Sedum 

 album might have escaped withovit difficulty. 



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