ORPINE FAMILY. Crassu/aceae. 



The upper part of the stalk, which is about six inches tall, 

 and the upper leaves are delicate bluish-green, but both 

 stem and leaves shade to vivid scarlet at the base. Spread- 

 ing out on the ground from the base of the stem in all 

 directions are numerous little runners, each bearing at the 

 end a small rosette of thick, blue-green leaves, forming a 

 beautiful contrast to the vivid color of flowers and stems. 

 The leaves and runners are very brittle and break off at a 

 touch. 



There are several kinds of Dudleya; perennials, very 

 thick and fleshy; root-leaves in- a conspicuous rosette, 

 stem-leaves mostly bract-like, usually with a broad, 

 clasping base; flowers mostly yellow or reddish; calyx 

 conspicuous, with five lobes; petals united at base; stamens 

 ten. Most of these plants grow in the South, often on 

 rocks, in such shallow soil, that they would die in dry 

 weather, except that the juicy leaves retain their moisture 

 for a long time and nourish the plant. They resemble 

 Sedum in appearance, but as the petals are more or less 

 united the flowers are not starlike. The Indians make 

 poultices out of the leaves. 



The succulent, reddish flower-stalks of 



Cmc'kTnt this handsome P lant bear lar S e > loose 



Dudleya Neva- rather flat-topped clusters of orange-red 



densis (Cotyle- flowers, on coiling branches, and are about 



rf ) a foot tall, with scaly bracts, springing 



Orange-red rom a j e h^soine rosette on the 

 Summer . . 



California ground of very thick, pale-green leaves, 



often tinged with pink. Other smaller 

 rosettes form a circle around it, hence its nice little common 

 name. D. pulverulenta (Echeveria) is beautiful but weird- 

 looking. It has red flowers, and the rosette, resemblii 

 a small Century-plant, is covered all over with a wl 

 powder which, arpong ordinary herbage, gives an exc 

 ingly striking and ghostlike effect. This plant is sor 

 times a foot and a half across, with as many as eight, 

 stalks, and is found from San Diego to Santa Barbara. 



194 



