i S 8 



CRASSULACE^E. 



[CLASS 



26. Natural Order Crassulaceae. The Stonecrop 

 Family. 



DISTRIBUTION. Temperate and tropical regions of 

 both hemispheres. Numerous in South Africa. British 

 genera 4, species 1 2. 



Herbs with fleshy leaves. Flowers regular. Pistil apocarpous, 

 or nearly so. Carpels 5 or more. 



Type Yellow Stonecrop (Sedum acre). 

 A procumbent perennial herb, with small succulent 

 leaves, and terminal cymes of yellow flowers. 



OBSERVE the excessive succulence of the foliage 

 characteristic of the Order, and the nearly apocarpous 

 condition of the pistil. 



In drying specimens of this Family for the herbarium 

 it is often necessary, owing to their succulence, to scald 

 them, or to steep them in a solution of corrosive subli- 

 mate, before putting them in drying paper. This prevents 

 the leaves from falling off. 



Houseleek (Sempervivuni], common on cottage-roofs, 

 is subject to a monstrous condition of the stamens ; some 

 of the anthers, occasionally all of them, bearing ovules. 



The leaves of Bryophyllum calycinum, a greenhouse 

 plant, when placed on damp soil readily produce young 

 plants from buds originating in the notches (cretiatures) 

 of the maigin. This presents some analogy with the 



