26 CRASSULACEyE 



* * * Leaves scarcely or not at all flattened ; flowers yellow 



7. Biting Stonecrop (»S^. acre). — Leaves egg-shaped, fleshy, spurred at 

 the base, sessile ; cymes 3-cleft, leafy ; petals pointed ; sepals blunt, swollen at 

 the base. Plant perennial. This is a very common wild flower, growing on 

 walls and tiles of houses, as well as on dry sandy slopes and heaths. From 

 its frequency on the cottage-roof it sometimes shares with the Sempervimm the 

 name of house-leek, and is apparently the plant alluded to in Clare's lines : — 



" Home, however homely, thoughts of thee 



Can never fail to cheer the absent breast : 

 How oft wild raptures have been felt by me 



When back returning weary and distrest ; 

 IIow oft I've stood to see the chimney pour 



Tliick clouds of smoke in columns lightly blue, 

 And close beneath the house-leek's yellow flower, 



While fast approaching to a nearer view." 



The Dutch call this Stonecrop Huislook, and the Spaniards term it Uvas de 

 gato. It well deserves, in common with most of the species, its name of 

 Stonecrop, for it is often abundant on stony barren places, being well fitted 

 for such soils by its succulent nature. Plants of this kind, like the aloe and 

 the cactus, are designed to inhabit exposed and dry places, and sometimes to 

 experience not only the heat of a scorching sun, but also a long season of 

 drouo-ht. They are, therefore, provided by the Creator of the Universe not 

 only with a large mass of juicy material, but the thin skin, or cuticle, which 

 covers every part of them, is adapted to admit of ready absorption and 

 tardy perspiration. It is this which enables the Livelong and several others 

 of the species to live and grow when separated from the root. One of these 

 succulent leaves, as that of an aloe, will, when partly dry, again become 

 plump in a few hours if plunged into water. 



The Biting Stonecrop is very similar to some others of the yellow flower- 

 ing species ; but, even when not in bloom, it may be known from all others 

 bv the mode in which its short thick leaves are arranged on its barren stems, 

 where they crowd so closely as to overlap each other. Country people call 

 it Small Houseleek, Prick Madam, Gold Chain, and Wall Pepper ; the last 

 name being merited by its pungent flavour — indeed, it should be tasted with 

 caution, as its juice is acrid enough to blister the tongue. It was a plant 

 much in use among the old herbalists, both as an outward application, and 

 also, when boiled in beer, as a remedy in pestilential fevers. They deemed 

 it an " cxpeller of poisons," and it stood pre-eminent among simples as a cure 

 for ague. This species is the Trique Madame of the French. 



8. Tasteless Yellow Stonecrop {S. sexanguldre). — Leaves linear, 

 blunt, rounded, and spurred at the base ; cymes 3-cleft, and smooth ; sepals 

 acute, not swollen, at the base. Plant perennial. This species is not a 

 nati\'e, though it is found rarely on old walls in Eastern England. The 

 leaves are much longer than in the last species, and arranged in six rows on 

 the barren shoots. The yellow flowers appear in July. 



9. Crooked Yellow Stonecrop (S. reflex/iiii,). — Leaves awl-shaped, 

 scattered, spurred at the base, convex on both sides ; flowers in cymes ; sepals 

 egg-shaped, rather acute. Plant perennial. A variety of this kind, which 



