ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 21 



The notes on synonymy which follow are limited to names still 

 sometimes used in gardens for the plants in question. 



Then follow references to pubUshed figures of the plants. These, 

 like the references mentioned above, have all been verified by 

 consultation of the original works, and they include only useful 

 illustrations : poor figures are not referred to. 



There follow notes pointing out the distinctions between the 

 species under notice and its nearest allies. These together with the 

 figure will in most cases be sufficient to identify any plant. 



A tolerably full description of each species is then given, taken 

 in almost every case from the living plant and afterwards checked by 

 comparison with descriptions in the leading floras. In every case 

 where I saw a living plant at all I was able also to grow it, mostly for 

 several years, and could observe it at all seasons. In the case of 

 plants certainly in cultivation which I did not succeed in seeing (4 out 

 of 151 species described in the paper), the descriptions are quoted 

 from an authority which is named. 



Descriptions of varieties are added, and miscellaneous notes 

 relating to the plant in its native or cultivated state, and to the 

 sources from which it was obtained. 



PART II.— DESCRIPTIVE. 



IX. Characters of the Genus. 



Sedum Linn. 



Linnaeus, " Genera Plantarum." No. 579. De Candolle, " Memoire sur la 

 famine des Crassulacees," 1828. Ibid-. Prodromus. 3, p. 401- Bentham and 

 Hooker, " Genera Plantarum," 1, p. 659. Schonland in Engler and Prantl, 

 " Naturliche Pflanzenfamilien," III. 2a, p. 29. Dalla Torre and Harnes, 

 " Genera Siphonogamarum," p. 197. 



Succulent plants, mostly perennial, very rarely hairy. Leaves 

 flat to cyUndrical, entire or nearly so, usually alternate, rarely opposite 

 or verticillate. Inflorescence usually cymose. Flowers usually bisexual 

 (rarely unisexual by abortion), and 5- (sometimes 4-, rarely 3-, 6-, or 7-) 

 parted, white or yellow, more rarely red or purple, very rarely 

 blue. Sepals, petals, and carpels equal in number, stamens twice 

 as many (very rarely equalling them in number). Sepals often fleshy 

 and leaf-like. Petals separate to the base, or nearly so. Stamens 

 free, or those opposite the petals adnate to them in the lower portion. 

 Hypogonous scales small, entire or slightly toothed. Carpels separate, 

 or nearly so. Follicles almost always many-seeded. 



Most of the genera of Crassulaceae have rather indefinite boundaries, 

 and the present genus is no exception. There is a difficulty about 

 deciding on the best line to be drawn between Sedum and Crassula, 

 Cotyledon, and Sempervivum. This is especially felt in the case of 

 many of the species discovered in recent years in Mexico and the 



