ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 69 



Series III. Primuloides. 



Group I. LONGICAULES. 



20. Sedum primuloides Franchet (fig. 29). 



5. primuloides Franchet in Journ. de Bot., 1896, 287. Praeger in 

 Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb., 27, 107. 



Illustration. — Praeger, loc. cit., Plate 3. 



A very distinct species, forming a little nearly deciduous bush 

 a few inches high with many branches, each with a close, flat, rosette 

 of leaves, and white egg-shaped flowers which are produced rather 

 sparingly on short leafy branches. It cannot be confounded with 

 any other species in cultivation. 



Description. — A small sub-deciduous glabrous sub-shrub. Stems spreading, 

 much branched, forming a little bush a few inches high, branches short, stout, 

 shaggy below with withered leaves. Leaves green, fleshy, flat, entire, paler 

 below, forming dense flattish rosettes at the ends of the branches, f inch long, 

 J inch or less broad, stalked, obovate, rather acute, petiole flat, often equalling 

 or exceeding the lamina, widened to a broad clasping base, which is stained 

 with red. Flower-shoots arising from the axils of the withered leaves of the 

 previous season, ascending, about 2 inches long, slender, with scattered leaves 

 resembling those of the rosettes, but distant and not clasping. Inflorescence 

 terminal, of i to 3 flowers. Flowers sessile or sub-sessile, ovoid, f inch long. 

 Calyx cup-shaped, sepals divided nearly to the base, green, fleshy, rather acute, 

 margins membranous. Petals white, tinged green on back, erect, incurved 

 so that the tips are contiguous, ovate, apiculate, edges fimbriate in upper part. 

 Stamens nearly equalhng the petals, erect, the epipetalous ones inserted J way 

 up. Scales yellow, truncate, broader than long. Carpels large, green, erect, 

 nearly equalling the petals, styles short. 



Flowers August. Hardy. 



Habitat. — Yunnan. 



A very curious Sedum, which when described stood far apart 

 from any other species ; but the China-Tibet region has since yielded 

 several others more or less akin to it, most of them still known only 

 from the original dried specimens. The present species was re- 

 collected by Mr. George Forrest, and distributed by Messrs. Bees, 

 Ltd., in 1912. I have endeavoured to show that it and S. Praegerianum 

 are primitive forms of Rhodiola, in which the scales which crown the 

 rootstock retain their original leaf-form. In its alpine habitats 

 the plant is usually very dwarf (fig. 29, a), but in cultivation its 

 stems lengthen and branch {b). 



Group 2. Brevicaules. 



21. Sedum Praegerianum W. W. Smith (figs. 30, 31). 



S. Praegerianum W. W. Smith in Notes R. Bot. Card. Edinburgh, 

 8, 348, 1915. Praeger in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb., 27, 107. 



Illustration. — Praeger, torn, cit., PI. II. 



A remarkable plant, unlike any other species in cultivation. 

 The flat rosette of stalked lanceolate leaves, and prostrate flower- 



