ORPINE FAMILY. Crassulaceae. 



ORPINE FAMILY. Crassulaceae. 



A rather large family, widely distributed; odd-looking, 

 mostly very succulent herbs, with smooth, fleshy leaves 

 and stems, without stipules; flowers in clusters; sepals, 

 petals, pistils, and stamens, all of the same number, usually 

 four or five, sometimes the stamens twice as many; ovary 

 superior; receptacle with honey-bearing scales, one behind 

 each pistil; pistils separate, developing into small dry pods, 

 containing few or many, minute seeds. Some of these 

 plants look like tiny cabbages and we are all familiar with 

 their tight little rosettes in the formal garden-beds of hotels 

 and railway stations, where they are so stiff and un- 

 attractive that we hardly recognize them when we find 

 them looking exceedingly pretty in their natural homes. 

 The Latin name means "thick." 



There are many kinds of Sedum, no one kind very 

 widely distributed; fleshy herbs; leaves usually alternate; 

 flowers star-like, often in one-sided clusters; stamens and 

 pistils sometimes in different flowers on different plants; 

 sepals and petals four or five; stamens eight or ten, on the 

 calyx, the alternate ones usually attached to the petals; 

 styles usually short. The Latin name means "to sit," 

 because these plants squat on the ground, and Stonecrop 

 is from their fondness for rocks. 



_ , _ This makes beautiful golden patches, 



Douglas Stone- 



crop on dry slopes or more or less open hilltops, 



Stdum Dougldsii usually among limestone rocks. The 

 Yellow reddish stems are from six to ten inches 



pring, summer ta jj ^ leaves are rather long and narrow, 

 Northwest 



thick but flat, forming pretty pale-green 



rosettes, more or less tinged with pink and yellow, and the 

 pretty starry flowers are three-quarters of an inch across, 

 bright-yellow, with greenish centers, the stamens giving a 

 feathery appearance. 



On moss-covered rocks, moistened by 

 Yosemite Stone- the glistening spray blowing from the 



Sedum Yosemite waterfalls, we find these beau- 



Yosemitense tiful plants, covering the stones with 



Yellow a brilliant, many-colored carpet. The 



umme flowers are stars of brightest gold, about 



half an inch across and delicately scented, 

 form flat-topped clusters, three or four inches across 

 192 



