CRASSULACE^^E— ORPINE FAMILY 



LIVE-FOREVER. ORPINE 



Sedum telephium 



Sedum, from the lowly habit of many of the species. 



A common perennial with smooth, fleshy leaves, natural- 

 ized from Europe, and found growing in tufts by road- 

 sides and in fence corners. 



Stems. — Stout, pale green, tufted, smooth and slightly 

 glaucous, one to two feet high. 



Leaves. — Alternate, very smooth, fleshy, ov- 

 ate to obovate, obtuse, coarsely dentate, one 

 and a half to two inches long; more or less 

 sessile. 



Flowers. — Small, borne in flat, terminal clus- 

 ters, two to three inches across, pale, dull, 

 crimson-pink. 



Calyx. — Sepals five, ovate, acute. 



Corolla. — Petals five, twice as long as the 

 sepals. 



Stamens. — Five. 



Pistil. — Of five carpels which ripen into many-seeded 

 follicles, each tipped with a short style. 



Live-Forever often waits at the gates of old country 

 churchyards, wanders along fences, and establishes it- 

 self on roadsides. The plant is well known to country 

 children of New England and the Middle States. It 

 appears in tufts of many upright stems bearing coarse, 



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