58 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is described as having entire leaves (" foliis lineari-lingulatis in- 

 tegerrimis obtusis "), and is clearly different ; Wallich's name crassipes 

 appears to be the oldest for our plant. Hooker's Wallichianum is 

 not distinct from it, being a form with leaves more divided than 

 usual. The depth of the teeth varies, but I have not seen a hving 

 plant in which it is quite so marked as in Hooker's plate. The flowers 

 vary from small and whitish (the commoner form) to larger and 

 greenish, the last named approaching the variety described below. 

 The flowers are almost always bisexual, but I have a male plant 

 received from Glasnevin ; in it the carpels are very slender, little 

 more than half as long as the stamens. 



Under certain conditions the plant will send out suckers, an unusual 

 feature in the Rhodiola group, and indeed in the genus. One strong 

 young plant produced a ring of stems at a distance of 6 inches from 

 the branched rootstock, arising from slender, branching, root-like 

 underground stems emanating from the rootstock at i to 2 inches 

 below the surface (fig. 21), in this respect connecting 5. crassipes with 

 5. Cretini Hamet. 



Although the plant is variable, some of the forms tending towards 

 the variety described below, the latter appears to merit varietal rank. 



The species takes its name from its thick rhizome. 



Var. cholaense Praeger in Journ. of BoL, 57, 50, 1919 (fig. 22). 



More robust than the type, plant of a more greyish green, inflorescence 

 denser and more involucrate. the bracts being very long. Leaves i-i\ inch 

 long, J-fV inch broad, largest below the inflorescence. Buds f inch long, 

 equalling the pedicels. Sepals vei-y narrow, nearly linear, green. Petals nearly 

 twice the sepals, erect, green, f inch long, linear-oblanceolate, blunt. Stamens 

 equalling the petals, anthers greenish. Scales dark crimson Carpels long, 

 very erect, slender, exceeding the stamens, slightly diverging above, styles very 

 short ; erect and over | inch long in fruit. 



A fine form, easily separated by its stouter growth, longer leaves, 

 and large flowers wholly green, save for the conspicuous crimson 

 scales. 



Received from Lissadell nursery and seen also at Edinburgh, 

 but the two had the same origin — the Chola Valley, East Sikkim, 

 where the plant was collected by Cooper (No. 923). Received also, 

 in the form both of roots and seeds, from Darjeeling Botanic Garden, 

 presumably of the same origin. 



15. Sedum Stephani Chamisso (fig. 23). 



S. Stephani Chamisso in "Linnaea," 6, 549, 1831. Maximowicz in 

 Bull. Acad. Peter shourg, 29, 127, 1883. 



A plant intermediate between two well-known species — 5. crassipes 

 Wallich (S. asiaticum Clarke) and S. roseum ScopoH (S. Rhodiola 

 DC). It appears to be nearer to the former, of which it should 

 perhaps be considered a variety ; but as I have not had the oppor- 

 tunity of studying much material, I follow Maximowicz in giving 

 it specific rank. The leaves come close to 5. crassipes, but are broader ; 



