STONECROP TRIBE 25 



on mountains and cliffs in IScotlaiid, Ireland, Wales, and also at the north 

 of England. The rout is used by the Greenlanders as an esculent vegetable. 



* * Leaves scarcely if at all flattened. Flowers white or reddish. 



3. English Stonecrop(*S'. anglicum). — Leaves egg-shaped, fleshy, spurred 

 at the base beneath, sessile ; cymes few-flowered ; petals very sharply pointed. 

 Plant perennial. This species, though small, is one of the prettiest of the 

 genus, when, in May or June, its white star-like flowers, with reddish-purple 

 anthers, are expanded on the rocky sandy soils. The leaves, which are 

 chiefly placed alternately, are small and thick, of a sea-green hue, often 

 tinged with red; and the stems, which are at first prostrate, afterwards 

 become about three or four inches high. On the western shores of England 

 and Scotland this Stonecrop often enlivens by its green masses and flowers 

 the rocky banks ; and in North Wales every rock and mountain seems to 

 be adorned by it. It has much of the general appearance of the Common 

 Biting Stonecrop, only that its flowers are not j^ellow, and it often grows 

 Avith it, as Bishop Mant has said : — 



' ' See on the inland garden's bound 

 Or antique battlemented mound, 

 Which girds some castle's steep aloof, 

 Or lowly peasant's peaceful roof, 

 The Stonecrop spreads a mantle briglit, 

 Like cloth of gold, or silver white, 

 Powder'd with spots of garnet red." 



4. W^hite Stonecrop (.S'. dlhum). — Leaves oblong, cylindrical, blunt, 

 scattered ; cymes much branched, and drooping when in bud. Plant 

 perennial. This species, which is not common, does not appear to be truly 

 wild, except perhaps on the Malvern Hills and in Somerset. It is a some- 

 what taller and less thick plant than the last, and its white flowers, which 

 are produced in July and August, are destitute of the bright purple colour 

 which tinges the anthers of the English Stonecrop. The foliage has, how- 

 ever, the same glaucous hue, often stained with red. It grows on rocks and 

 walls in various counties of England, and is more general on garden walls 

 and on outhouses, where it was probably cultivated, than on any other spots. 



5. Thick-leaved Stonecrop {S. dasyphijllum). — Leaves fleshy, almost 

 globular, and opposite, except on the flowering stems ; flowers in panicles ; 

 petals egg-shaped and blunt. Plant perennial. This is a doubtful native, 

 found occasionally on walls and rocks in various parts of England, and in 

 one or two places in Scotland and Ireland. It is a small plant, having leaves 

 of pale green tinged with red, and its pink-streaked white flowers blooming 

 in June and July. 



6. Hairy Stonecrop (»S'. mlldsum). — Leaves scattered, oblong, flattened 

 above, and, as well as the stems and flower-stalks, hairy. This is a small 

 biennial species of Stonecrop, not common in all parts of the kingdom, 

 though frequent in Scotland and the north of England. It would easily be 

 distinguished in a family of plants remarkable for their smooth foliage, by 

 its hairy stems and leaves, which are also clammy to the touch. Its stems 

 are about two or three inches high, and of purplish colour ; and the flowers, 

 which appear in June and July, are white or of a pale pink hue. 



II.— 4 



