198 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



88. Sedum proponticum Aznavour (fig. 112). 

 5. proponticum Aznavour in Bulletin Soc. Bot. de France, 44, 169, 1897. 



Synonym. — 5. gemmiferum of some gardens. 



Illustration. — Rouy, " Illustr. Plant. Europ. Rar.," tab. 257. 



The present species differs from all others in cultivation in its short 

 subterranean shoots clothed with very short, very thick, white tooth- 

 like leaves ; these shoots in late autumn come to the surface and pro- 

 duce flat rosettes, from which the flowering stems arise in the following 

 spring. The aerial portions of the plant are also sufficiently distinct. 



Description. — An evergreen perennial. Roots fibrous. Barren shoots 

 arising from the base of old stems or from points on the roots, at first 

 subterranean, 1-2 inches long, densely clothed with very short, imbricate, very 

 thick, colourless leaves ; rising to the surface in autumn and producing a very flat 

 winter rosette of obovate green leaves. Flowering shoots single, erect or eventually 

 decumbent-ascending, arising in spring from the rosettes before-mentioned, 

 about 6 inches high, round, unbranched, stout, nearly smooth below, rough with 

 deflexed glands above. Leaves of flowering shoots opposite, flat, dark green, 

 fleshy, the lower ones shortly stalked, obovate, tapered below, rounded at apex, 

 entire, the upper ones smaller, sessile, sometimes alternate, broadly ovate or 

 nearly orbicular, slightly and bluntly toothed. Inflorescence terminal, lax, of 

 2 or 3 spreading, straight, simple, scabrid branches 1-2 inches long, with a flower 

 in the fork ; occasionally a short branch is also produced from one of the highest 

 leaf-axils. Bracts leaf-like, becoming very small. Flowers mostly sessile, the 

 lowest shortly stalked, rosy purple, ^ to f inch across. Buds lanceolate, blunt, 

 strongly ribbed. Sepals green, very fleshy, lanceolate, blunt. Petals twice 

 the sepals, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, wide-spreading, grooved on face, 

 strongly keeled on back, light rosy purple with a white base. Stamens 10, about 

 I the petals, filaments white, anthers reddish. Scales very short, roundish, 

 greenish or yellowish. Carpels erect, equalling the stamens, lanceolate, purple, 

 with a line of papillae on either side, facing the adjoining carpel. 



Flowers July. Half hardy. 



Habitat. — Asia Minor, opposite Constantinople. 



Received from Kegel and Kesselring of Petrograd, in 1914, and 

 from CoRREVON of Geneva, in 1916, both under the name S. gemmiferum 

 (a nomen nudum). A very curious plant, allied to S. Listoniae Visiani, 

 also from Asia Minor, which differs in its barren shoots not being 

 subterranean, in its ciliate leaves, &c. ; the latter species is not in 

 cultivation. 



S. proponticum is doubtfully hardy with us. I have lost it twice 

 during the winter, and M. Correvon reports that he has had to 

 protect it at Geneva. 



89. Sedum Stevenianum Rouy and Camus (fig. 113). 



S. Stevenianum Rouy and Camus, "Flore de France," 7, 94, 1901. 

 Hamet in Trd. Bot. Sada (Tiflis), 8, part iii. 7. 



•Synonym. — S. roseum Steven in "M6m. Soc. Nat. Moscou," 3, 263, 1812 (not 

 of Scopoli, for which see p. 28) ; Boissier, "Flora Orient.," 2, 780. 



In size and habit, in the leaves broadest near the tip, and in the 

 cup-shaped flowers, this little plant resembles S. aipesire ; but it is 

 smaller, the leaves are dotted with red, the petals axe broader and have 

 a red keel, the sepals are smaller, the scales larger and conspicuous. 



