ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 211 



below, leafy near the tips ; branches wide-spreading. Leaves alternate, set at right 

 angles to the stem, green and shining, flat, very fleshy, lanceolate-spathulate, 

 entire, rounded or bluntly pointed at apex, narrowed below, sessile, flat on face, 

 rather rounded on back, often curving upward, 2 to 2| inches long, J to J inch 

 broad. Inflorescence a much-branched, lax, panicled cyme, 3 to 4 inches long and 

 broad. Buds ovate, rather acute, f inch long. Flowers subsessile, | inch across. 

 Sepals green, fleshy, blunt, ovate-lanceolate, twice as long as broad. Petals 

 bright-yellow, patent, narrowly lanceolate, very acute, 4 to 5 times the sepals. 

 Stamens spreading, yellow, | the petals. Scales minute, yellow. Carpels yellow, 

 erect, later spreading, equalling the stamens, tapering into the styles, spreading 

 in fruit. 



Flowers May-June (in the open). Hardy in the milder parts 

 of the British Isles. 



Habitat. — Mexico. Described by De Candolle over seventy 

 years ago from cultivated specimens, and still widely grown in Europe. 

 It is a common cottage-window plant in Ireland and parts of England 

 and Scotland. In gardens it is usually called S. dendroideum ; some- 

 times 5. confusum or S. giganteum. Though now widespread in 

 Europe, it appears to have been lost sight of in America. Dr. Rose 

 {loc. cit.) merely repeats Hemsley's description, and doubts the validity 

 of the species. It is, however, a well-marked and quite distinct 

 plant. 



The name {praealtus = very high) refers to its tall growth, which 

 Hemsley sets down at 5 to 6 feet ; but in these countries it never 

 attains even half that height, 



96. Sedum confusum Hemsley (fig. 119c, 121). 



5. confusum Hemsley, " Diagnoses Plant. Nov.," 1, 10, 1878. Hemsley, 

 "Biol. Centr. Amer., Bot.," 1, 393. " N. Amer. Flora," 22, 70. 



Illustration. — Saunders' " Refug. Botan.," 5, pi. 337. 

 Synonym. — S. spaihulifolium Baiker in Saunders' "Refug. Botan.," loc. cit. 

 (not of Hooker, see p. 238). 



The third member of the well-marked dendroideum group of 

 shrubby Mexican Sedums. S. confusum is the smallest of the three, 

 and differs from praealtum in its smaller, broader leaves, i to i^ inches 

 (not 2 to 2 J inches) long, twice (not 3 to 4 times) as long as broad, 

 semi-elliptic (not pointed) at the apex, inflorescence smaller and 

 denser (about 2 inches instead of 4 inches long and broad), petals 

 broader (3, not 4 times as long as broad). 5. dendroideum differs 

 in its taller stiff er growth, stalked leaves, &c. (see figs. 118, 119). 



Description. — A glabrous, evergreen, shrubby perennial, forming a bush a 

 foot high and wide. Stem woody below, round, smooth, often reddish, much 

 branched ; branches ascending. Leaves alternate, longer than the intemodes, 

 flat, fleshy, bright green, shining, obovate-spathulate, i to i J inches long, usually 

 semi-elliptic at apex (sometimes with a very blunt point), cuneate below, sessile, 

 face with a median V-shaped groove with well-marked edges near the base, back 

 paler with a slightly raised median ridge. Inflorescence terminal, compact, 

 i^ to 2 inches long and broad, cymose-paniculate ; bracts linear, very fleshy, few. 

 Buds ovate, bluntly pointed. Flowers yellow, J to | inch across, on very short 

 pedicels [^ to \ inch). Sepals yellowish green, very fleshy, ovate, blunt, nearly 

 twice as'long as broad, limb exceeding the tube. Petals patent or reflexed, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, channelled, 3 times aS long as broad. Stamens yellow, | the 

 petals. Scales smdll, roundish, notched, yellow. Carpels lanceolate, greenish 

 yellow, slightly spreading, with short erect styles ; wide-spreading in fruit. 



