ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 279 



136. Sedum amplexicaule DC. (figs. 163, 164, g). 



S. amplexicaule DeCandolle, " Rapports Voyages," 2, 80, 1808. Baker 

 in Gard. Chron. 1877, ii. 462. Masters, ibid. 1878, ii. 626. 



Synonym. — S. tenuifolium, DC, " Prodromus," 3, 407. 



Illustrations. — De CandoUe, " M6m. Crassul.," pi. 7. Sibthorp, " Flor. 

 Graeca," tab. 474. Tenore, " Flor. Nap.," 1, tab. 139, fig. 2. Cusin and 

 Ansberque, " Herb. Flor. Fran9aise, Crassul.," tab. 35. Gard. Chron. 1876, ii. 

 fig. 46. 



A very peculiar and interesting species, more closely related to 

 S. pruinaium of Portugal than to any of its allies found with it along 

 the Mediterranean. The leaves of the barren shoots fade at about 

 the flowering time in early summer, leaving only the peculiar, broad 

 sheathing bases (fig. 163, c), which enwrap the shoot and presumably 

 form a protection against drought ; in this condition the plant looks 

 dead. With the rains of autujnn, growth is resumed at the tip of the 

 shoot, and during winter the clump is again covered with small glaucous 

 leaves. Fig. 163, h, shows a shoot in its summer condition, and a, 

 the same shoot when growth is resumed. In the shape and history of 

 its leaves the species is unique. In its flowering parts especially it 

 shows its affinity to pruinatum. In both we find the same few- 

 flowered, two-branched inflorescence with large flowers and sepals 

 with a peculiar median furrow; but in pruinatum the flowers are 

 usually straw-coloured, not golden, and the furrow less marked than 

 in amplexicaule. Wild specimens are sometimes a foot in height when 

 in flower, but in gardens the plant is mostly much smaller, and 

 sometimes minute. 



Description. — Small perennial, withering in summer, green for the rest of 

 the year. Stem procumbent, wiry, much branched, dying off behind and forming 

 many rooted shoots. Barren shoots ascending, i to 3 inches long. Flower-shoots 

 2 to 6 inches high, ascending, unbranched. Leaves of barren shoots imbricate, 

 glaucous, linear, terete, apiculate, recurved in the upper part, widening at base 

 into a broad, clasping, membranous wing ; leaves of "flowering shoots linear- 

 lanceolate, apiculate, nearly terete, rather distant, sessile, with a short, narrow, 

 adpressed spur. Inflorescence lax, few-flowered, mostly of two wide-spreading 

 branches, each bearing 2 to 6 flowers with a flower in the fork. Flowers large, 

 f to I inch across, 6- to lo-parted. Buds nearly \ inch long, ovate, acute, strongly 

 ribbed. Sepals green, ovate-lanceolate, very acute, with a deep median groove, 

 raised edges, and recurved tip. Petals golden-yellow, linear-lanceolate, acute, 

 grooved on face, keeled on back, f inch long, thrice the sepals. Stamens yellow, 

 f the petals. Scales small, yellow, broader than long. Carpels yellow, erect j 

 in fruit erect and large, surrounded by the persistent, erect sepals. 



Flowers June-July. Hardy. 



Habitat. — Southern Europe from Portugal eastward, Asia 

 Minor, Algeria. Not uncommon in gardens. 



The specific name signifies " stem-clasping," and emphasizes the 

 peculiar character of the leaves. 



SECTION VIII.— SEMPERVIVOIDES. 



Section Sempervivoides Boissier, "Flor. Orientalis," 2,776. 



Annual or biennial. Leaves flat, root-leaves forming a rosette. 

 Inflorescence corymbose or racemose-paniculate. Hardy or tender 

 Eurasian plants. 



