ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 



303 



Quite the most valuable of the annual Sedums. Its mass of small, 

 sky-blue flowers (in which it stands unique) renders it most attractive, 

 and in sun the leaves and stems assume a bright-red colour, providing 

 a striking contrast. 



Description. — A small, bushy annual, a few inches high, green or, in exposure, 

 suffused with red. Stem round, smooth, finely hairy above, with many lateral 

 branches. Leaves alternate, ovoid or oblong, sessile, not spurred, subterete, 

 sUghtly flattened above, up to i to J inch long, smaller upward. Inflorescence lax , 

 paniculate, occupying the whole plant. Flowers 7- to g-parted, i inch across, on 



Fig. 180. — S. coeruleum Vahl. 



long pedicels, deflexed after flowering. Buds ovate, blunt. Calyx cup-shaped 

 wilii short, blunt teeth. Petals lanceolate, acute, wide-spreading, 3 times the 

 sepals, blue with a white base. Stamens wide-spreading, nearly as long as the 

 petals, filaments white, anthers purple. Scales small, white. Carpels erect, 

 white, turning red in fruit. 



Flowers July-August. Hardy. 



Habitat. — S. Europe and N. Africa from Algeria and Corsica 

 to Malta. 



Not infrequent in cultivation. In some gardens it maintains 

 itself freely by self-sown seedlings which appear in early autumn ; 

 in others a damp, peaty, or gritty soil is found to suit it best. The 

 specific name refers to the colour of the flowers. 



