1636 



SECHIUM 



SEDUM 



late are solitary or in pairs on a short pubescent axil- 

 lary pedicel. Corolla 5-lobed, green or cream-colored. 

 Stamens 3, united into a glabrous or glandular column. 

 Lvs. 4-6 in. across, cucumber-like, cordate - ovate and 

 5-7-angled, pointed, somewhat scabrous above. Ten- 

 drils opposite the lvs., 3-4-cleft. The plant grows 50 

 feet in warm climates. G.C. 1865:51; III. 24:476; 

 28:450. L. H. B. 



2281. Fruits of Sechium edule (X 34)- 



SECURINfiGA (Latin, securis, hatchet, and negare, 

 to refuse; alluding to the hard wood). Exiphorbi&cece . 

 Deciduous shrubs, with alternate, petioled, entire, usu- 

 ally small leaves, small greenish or whitish flowers in 

 axillary clusters or solitary, and capsular small sub- 

 globose fruits. S. ramiflora seems to be the hardiest 

 species and the only one in cultivation in this country. 

 It is fairly hardy at the Arnold Arboretum, usually only 

 the tips of the young branches being winter-killed, and 

 forms a handsome round bush with bright green foliage. 

 It seems to grow in any kind of soil and is propagated 

 by seeds and by greenwood cuttings under glass. About 

 10 species in temperate and subtropical regions of 

 America, Asia and Africa, also in southern Europe, but 

 none in N. America. Fls. unisexual, dioecious or monoe- 

 cious in axillary, few-fld. cymes or solitary; sepals 5; 

 stamens usually 5, with a 5-lobed disk at the base; pis- 

 tillate fls. with entire disk and 3 2-parted styles: fr. a 

 3-lobed dehiscent capsule, 3-6-seeded. 



ramifldra, J. Miiller {Geblera suffruticosa, Pisch. & 

 Mey. Fliiggea suffruticosa, B&ill. Aciddtonramiflorus, 

 Kuntze). Shrub, 3-6 ft. high : lvs. short-petioled, oval 

 or ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, cuneate at 

 the base, entire, bright or yellowish green, glabrous, 

 thin, 1-2 in. long: staminate fls. about 1% lines across, 

 in 5-10-fld. clusters; pistillate solitary: fr. about one- 

 fifth in. across, greenish. July, Aug. S. Siberia to 

 Amurland and Mongolia. 



S.Leucop'^rus. Miill. Arg., belongs to Fliiggea, a genus of 6 

 species distributed through the tropics of Asia, Africa and 

 Australia; it is chiefly distinguished from Securinega by the 

 seeds, which are concave on the ventral surface; the fr. is 

 berry-like. P. Leiicopyrus, Willd., is a spiny shi-ub, with tor- 

 tuous, light-colored, glabrous branches: lvs. ohovate to orbicu- 

 lar, emarginate, cuneate at the base, glabrous, %-l in. long: 

 ils. small, in axillary chisters, the staminate fls. more numerous 

 and on slenderer pedicels: fr. globose, white, %-% in. across. 

 India to trop. Austr. For cultivation in trop. regions or in the 

 hothouse. Alfred Rehder. 



SEDGE. Consult Carex and Cyperus. 



S£DTJM (Latin, sedes, to sit: the plants fix them- 

 selves on rocks and walls). (Jrasstilhcew. Sedum is a 

 large group of fleshy-leaved herbaceous plants, mostly 

 hardy and perennial, including the Stonecrop and Live- 

 forever. The flowers are usually small, rarely 3^-% in. 

 across, but the clusters are often showy and 3-4 in. in 

 diameter. There is a pretty blue-flowered species and 

 one with scarlet flowers, but with these exceptions the 

 genus might be divided into two groups, those with 

 yellow flowers and those with white or pinkish flowers. 

 The foliage is always succulent, but otherwise remark- 

 ably varied: the leaves opposite, alternate or whorled, 

 entire or serrate, rarely deeply cut, sometimes large, 

 broad and flat, sometimes thick and pulpy, sometimes 

 minute and moss-like. Some of the plants are stout, 

 erect and bushy, but many of them have a set of creep- 



ing barren shoots, terminated by dense rosettes, while 

 the flowering stems are erect and often furnished with 

 leaves of an entirely different shape. 



Sedum is a genus of about 120 species, all found in 

 the temperate and frigid regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere except a solitary species in Peru. Herbs, rarely 

 shrubby at the base, glabrous or glandular-pubescent: 

 flowers in cymes; petals 4-5 (rarely 6-7); stamens 

 8-10 (rarely 12-14). The genus is closest to the House- 

 leek and other species of Sempervivum, but the floral 

 parts of Sedum are typically in 4's or 5's, while those of 

 Sempervivum are typically 6 or more. Also Semper- 

 vivum extends to South Africa. The hardy Sedums are 

 monographed by M. T. Masters in Gardeners' Chronicle 

 for 1878. Masters' arrangement has been followed be- 

 low. There is also a good horticultural review in Gn. 

 27, pp. 314-316 (1885). 



Sedums are of the easiest culture. As a rule, they 

 prefer sandy soil, and are very averse to a wet position 

 in winter. They are standard plants for carpeting poor 

 and sandy waste places where few other things will 

 grow. The little yellow-flowered plant with pulpy foli- 

 age that spreads in n earl j' every cemetery is 5'cdMm acre. 

 Sedums are also general favorites in all forms of rock- 

 gardening. They are much used for carpet-bedding, 

 especially the kinds with mealy or glaucous foliage, and 

 those with various metallic shades of purple. In the 

 hardy border, the more robust and bushy kinds, like S. 

 maximum and spectabile, are preferred, though any of 

 the lower-growing kinds are suitable for edgings and 

 any of the evergreen kinds are welcome in winter when 

 the hardy border shows few other bits of color or signs 

 of life. As a rule, Sedums like the sun, but a few of 

 the species may help to solve the difficult problem of 

 carpeting the ground underneath the trees where the 

 soil is dry and shaded. Sedums are also favorites for 

 baskets and vases, especially the kinds with trailing 

 stems and minute leaves. Por greenhouse decoration, 

 <S'. spectabile is the favorite, as it is perhaps the 

 showiest of the genus. It may be had in flower at any 

 season of the year and remains in bloom a long time. 

 It is also one of the favorite Sedums for window-sills, 

 balconies and housetops, especially in crowded cities. 

 Sedum acre, however, is everybody's plant. A pot of it 

 is often the only pleasant sight in an ugly city alley. 

 Sedums are plants for poor folks. The chief points 

 against them are that they have never been fashionable 

 and anybody can grow them. They can be propagated 

 by seeds, but they are easily multiplied by the young 

 offsets. These rosettes are somewhat bulb-like in nature 

 and Sedums could probably be propagated if it were 

 worth while by using each leaf of a rosette. 



The key to the species is necessarily unsatisfactory. 

 It would answer better for wild plants. In the gar- 

 dens the species run together, especially those of the 

 Telephium group, Nos. 7-10. There is no absolute proof 

 that these and other Sedums intercross in the gardens, 

 although it is practically certain. Although the species 

 may run together, it has been thought best to take 

 clear-cut types and to make the key as sharply de- 

 fined as possible instead of giving generalized de- 

 scriptions through which the plant lover may search in 

 vain for distinguishing marks. 



