A66 



S ED 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SED 



8. Sedum Stellatum ; Starry Stonecrop. Leaves flattish, 

 angular ; flowers lateral, sessile, solitary : they are of a 

 delicate white colour, each petal marked longitudinally with 

 a pink line. This is a low annual plant. Native of Ger- 

 many, France, Switzerland, Italy, and of China. 



9. Sedum Alsinefolium; Chickweed-leaved Stonecrop. Leaves 

 flat, ovate ; stem panicled ; petals obtuse. Native of Pied- 

 mont, in shady stony places. 



10. Sedum Cepola; Purslane-leaved Stonecrop. Leaves 

 flat, lanceolate; stem branched; flowers panicled; petals 

 acute, awned ; root annual. Native of Germany, France, 

 Switzerland, and Italy. 



11. Sedum Libanoticum. Root-leaves in bunches, spatu- 

 late lanceolate; stem almost naked, quite simple. Native of 

 Palestine. 



12. Sedum Dasyphyllum ; Thick-leaved Stonecrop. Leaves 

 opposite, ovate, obtuse, fleshy; stem weak; panicle glutinose. 

 Root perennial, composed of small white fibres ; stems de- 

 cumbent, creeping, branched, tufted, thread-shaped, a little 

 viscid ; flowering-branches erect ; leaves tipped with red ; 

 flowers three or four together, white with a purple streak, form- 

 ing small spreading panicles. This pretty plant, introduced 

 into a garden, propagates itself freely upon walls, in waste 

 places, and about garden-pots. No plant is better adapted 

 for decorating rock-work; upon rocks or walls it grows with- 

 out any trouble, in any aspect, multiplying very much by 

 young shoots, and looking beautiful throughout the year. 

 Linneus marks it as annual: Dr. Smith has sometimes thought 

 it biennial, but he rests in supposing it to be perennial ; fre- 

 quently, however, disappearing in one spot, and re-appearing 

 in other. Native of many parts of Europe. In England 

 found near London, on walls near Chelsea Hospital; between 

 Kensington gravel pits and Acton; also at Hammersmith and 

 Kew; at Fulbourne in Cambridgeshire; Marketstreet, in 

 Bedfordshire; at Bugden, in Huntingdonshire; at Malton in 

 Yorkshire, and at Clifton near Bristol. 



13. Sedum Reflexuin ; Yellow Stonecrop. Leaves awl- 

 s,haped, scattered, loose at the base,, the lowermost recurved; 

 flowers in cymes. Root perennial. Haller says it is eaten 

 in salads, in various parts of Europe. It is common in Eng- 

 land on walls and thatched roofs, and on rocks in the northern 

 counties, flowering in July. 



14. Sedum Hispidum ; Hispid Stonecrop. Branches fili- 

 form, panicled, villosej leaves half round. Annual. Native 

 of Barbary- 



15. Sedum Rupestre ; Rock Stonecrop. Leaves thick, awl- 

 shaped, erect, clustered, in five rows, loose at the base; 

 flowers subcymed. Perennial. This also is cultivated in 

 Holland and Germany, to mix with salads, notwithstanding 

 its acrid taste. Native of various parts of Europe. Found in 

 England on St. Vincent's rocks, near Bristol ; on the Chedder 

 rocks in Somersetshire ; on some walls about Darlington. 



16. Sedum Saxatile; Mountain Stonecrop. Leaves scat- 

 tered, half round, obtuse, loose at the base ; stem branched, 

 decumbent; root annual. Found on rocks in Norway, Ger- 

 many, Switzerland, and Dauphiny. 



17. Sedum Quadrilidum; Four-petalled Stonecrop. Leaves 

 scattered, round, obtuse; stem simple; flowers umbelled, 

 four-petalled, yellow. Perennial. Native of the northern 

 parts of Asia, on rooks. 



18. Sedum Hispanicum; Spanish Stonecrop. Leaves linear, 

 round, depressed, scattered; cymes patulous; flowers six- 

 petalled; root slender, fibrous, perennial. It flowers in July. 

 Native of Spain and Carinthia. 



19. Sedum Lineare; Linear Stonecrop. Leaves round, 

 linear, opposite; cyme tritid. Native of Japan. 



20. Sedum Cceruleum; Blue Stonecrop. Leaves oblong, 

 alternate, obtuse, loose at the base ; cyme bifid, smooth. 

 Found in Africa. 



21. Sedum Album; White Stonecrop. Leaves oblong, 

 round, blunt, spreading, smooth ; panicle very much branch- 

 ed. Root perennial, fibrous; stems a span high, round, leafy, 

 branched, smooth, decumbent at the base; leaves fleshy, and 

 very juicy ; panicle terminal ; flowers white or reddish. Hal- 

 ler informs us, that this species possesses all the virtues of 

 the Large Houseleek, and that he has used the juice of it in 

 uterine haemorrhages. By way of cataplasm, it is applied to 

 the piles when in a painful state. Some persons prepare 

 and eat it as a pickle. Native of Europe, on rocks, walls, 

 and roofs, flowering in July. It occurs in the neighbourhood 

 of London; between Bromley and Bromley Hall in Middle- 

 sex ; on walls at Peterborough ; upon the rocks above Great 

 Malvern; at Wick cliffs; at Chatterness in the Isle of Ely; 

 and at Stevington and Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire. 



22. Sedum Acre; Bit.ing Stonecrop, or Wall Pepper. Leaves 

 alternate, subovate, fleshy, gibbous, adnate, sessile ; cyme 

 trifid, leafy. Root perennial, fibrous. Stem tufted, branched, 

 decumbent, smooth, round, leafy; leaves protuberant at the 

 back ; flowers erect, golden-coloured, in terminal, solitary 

 panicles. It grows suspended in the open air, or in a room, 

 which has been considered as a proof that it receives its nou- 

 rishment principally from the air; but it is justly observed by 

 Withering, that though the life of the plant be thus retained for 

 some weeks, yet it is at the expense of the juices, which its 

 succulent leaves had previously imbibed. At the end of three 

 weeks, a plant, suspended before a window with a northern 

 aspect, had lost about half its weight, though it had put out 

 some fine fibres from the root, and had yet life enough to 

 enable it to turn to the light, after having been purposely 

 turned from it. After being kept in watei for twenty-four 

 hours, it regained more than half of what it had lost. Hence 

 it appears, that the succulent leaves are reservoirs which 

 support the plant in dry weather, and are again replenished 

 in rainy seasons; but it does not follow that such plants 

 attract nourishment from the air more than others, though it 

 must be allowed that they subsist much upon the humidity 

 of the atmosphere, since their succulent stems and leaves 

 cannot derive much nutriment from the arid soil in which 

 they generally grow. The whole of this plant is acrid, and 

 when chewed in the mouth has a very hot biting taste, 

 whence, and from its common place of growth, it has the 

 name of Wall Pepper. Applied to the skin, it blisters ; and 

 taken inwardly, it excites vomiting. In scorbutic cases, it 

 is an excellent medicine, under proper management. Fof 

 this purpose, a handful of the herb is directed to be boiled 

 in eight pints of beer till they are reduced to four, of which 

 three or four ounces are to be taken every morning. Milk 

 has been found to answer this purpose better than beer. Not 

 only ulcers simply scorbutic, but those of a scrofulous or 

 even cancerous tendency, have been cured by the use of this 

 plant. It is likewise useful as an external application in 

 destroying fungous flesh, and in promoting a discharge in 

 gangrenes and carbuncles. Another effect for which this 

 plant has been esteemed, is that of stopping intermitting" 

 fevers. Native of Europe, in dry sandy and gravelly pastures, 

 on houses, walls, banks, and rocks. It is common in Eng- 

 land ; flowers in June; and, if planted in a pot, will hang 

 over the sides and cover the pot completely. 



23. Sedum Sexangulare ; Insipid Stonecrop. Leaves sub- 

 tern, roundish, obtuse, fleshy, adnate, sessile, spreading; 

 cyme trifid, leafy. The flowers are of a palish yellow colour. 

 The herb, though unpleasantly austere, is not acrid. Native 



