322 THE ALPINE FLORA 



Turtmann, Arolla, and of the Vaudois Alps in Cantons 

 Vaud, Grisons and Berne. 



S. J^hodiola is a curious looking plant, glabrous and 

 bluish, with a tuberous, violet-scented rootstock; leaves 

 stout, toothed at the tip; flowers yellowish in a compact, 

 terminal cyme. Here and there in granitic Alps. 



Orpines are prescribed for the removal of warts and 

 corns by reason of their biting and astringent properties ; 

 they are said to hasten the cicatrizing of wounds; S. album 

 is a refrigerant. In old times lovers drew omens from 

 them, and occasionally people may still be found who 

 believe in their efficacy during thunder storms. 



In cultivation they are good-humoured creatures; no- 

 thing hurts them; any position satisfies them; given a 

 scrap of earth in a sunny rock and they will decorate it to 

 perfection. 



Sempervivum 



Tzng.: Houseleck; "Fr.: Joubarbe, Artichaut sauvage; Ger.: Hauswurz. 



Calyx and corolla with 9-12 divisions; stamens twice 

 as many as the petals; inflorescence cymose. 



S. tectorum*. The Houseleek proper or Herbe du 

 tonnerre, is a sturdy plant with thick, densely rosulate, 

 ciliate leaves forming a rosette which looks like a glab- 

 rous, bluish-green artichoke ; flowers large, brownish, 

 copper rose, in a thyrsoid cyme. Grows in stony places 

 of warm and sunny mountains. July-August. 



S. montanum (PI. XXXIX). The root-stock puts out 

 many offsets radiating from the central rosette; flowers 

 large, brownish-rose. Alpine rocks (1200-2400 m.). 



S. arachnoideum (PI. XXXIX) (Nid d'araignees, Herbe 

 a 1'aragne). Leaves in compact rosettes, covered with 

 long, white, woollen threads, interwoven from the tip of 



