“The A BURC EEA SUE EEE RB A 
fonecrop, and have ten threads, and the rudi- 
iments of fix capfules in their centre. 
When the flowers are fallen thefe ripen, and 
are full of very {mall feeds. 
It is frequent about the Apenines and in other 
mountainous places, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Sedum minus luteum folio 
acuto. Others, Sedum rupeftre. 
4.0 
redifh : they are three of four inches high, and 
have leaves on.them, but thofe not cluftered as 
in the preceding fhoots. 
Thefe leaves are fhort, flefhy, and tharp pointed. 
~ At the top of the ftalk ftand the flowers in a’ 
little clufter, five or fix together. They are large 
in proportion to the plant, and yellow. They 
confift of fix petals each, as the common Englifh 
Git. eames 10'S 
\HOUSELEEK, 
VHE 
SEMPERVIVU™. 
HE leaves naturally difpofe themfelves in round clufters. The flower is compofed of twelve petals 
6 it ftands in a cup divided into twelve fegments, and is followed by a clufter of twelve capfules, 
Linnzus places this among his dodecandria polygynia, the threads in the flower, and the rudiments 
of the fruit in general, anfwering to the number of divifions in the cup and of the petals in the flower ; 
but this is uncertain. It is upon this exaét number of twelve ftamina that Linneeus has placed it in 
his dodecandria clafs ; but nature fhews, and himfelf in fome degree acknowledges, that thisnumber of 
the threads, or {tamina, is not certain: fometimes we fee them fewer, fometimes more. 
_Itis not proper, therefore, to remove a plant from among thofe to which it plainly belongs, for the fake 
of the particular number of threads in the flower, efpecially when that number is not conftant or certain ; 
and this is the misfortune of that fafhonable method, not in this alone, but in numerous other inftances. 
The fempervivum and the fedum, houfeleck and fionecrep are plainly allied to one another ; info: 
much that many have diftinguithed them only by the names of greater and lefer: we have, in our 
natural method, placed them next after one another ; and this, becaufe the Mower in each confifts of feve- 
ral petals, and the feeds are contained in feveral capfules: but Linnzeus, becaufe thefe houfeleeks have 
twelve threads in each flower, and the ftonecrops haye but ten, has feparated them into diftin® claffes, 
They evidently belong to the fame: their diftin@ion in the number of 
petals, and of capfules 
is a proper mark for a feparate genus, but nothing more: it has no right to place them in different 
claffes ; much lefs has the number of thofe lefler parts, which we fee 
thofe more obvious and confiderable. 
It is according to thefe laft nature has claffed plants together, and we thould follo 
the obfervation in this cafe that the filaments agree in number with the petals in one 
the other of the fame clafs, was pretty; and an attention to their number and fi 
accompany in their variations 
w her fteps ; 
genus, and in 
tuation in other 
plants, is not always frivolous ; but it was a weak imagination that prompted Linnaeus to believe thefe 
were the proper characterifticks of what we call claffes, and what nature has made'families of plants, 
They are always diftinguifhed by greater characters 
DA Ve lor OeN: aly 
Great Houfeleck. 
Sempervivum majus, 
The root. is compofed of a great number of 
long, thick fibres. 
The leaves rife in a regular manner, forming a 
round clufter, and there are continually offsets 
produced from thefe firft clufters, the leaves of 
which are difpofed in the fame manner ; fo that we 
commonly fee a great number of thefe fhoots toge- 
ther, which make a very beautiful appearance. 
The leaves are broad at the bottom, fharp 
at the point, and even at the edges. They are of 
a pleafant green, very thick, and flefhy ; and the 
larger being placed outward, and the leffer all the 
way inward, in feveral feries, they give the idea 
of an eye. : 
From the centre of thefe clufters rifes the ftalk, 
which, when in flower, is of equal beauty with 
the leaves. It is a foot or more in height, and at 
the bottom as thick as a man’s thumb; it gradu- 
ally grows {maller all the way up, and is from 
top to bottom covered with leaves, which lie like 
{cales, or like tiles of a houfe, one over another. 
Thefe refemble the bottom leaves in their flethy 
ftructure, and in fome degree in their form; but 
BeRal Sor 
SPECIES, 
they are longer in Proportion to their breadth : 
they are fharp pointed, and of a pale colour, ufu- 
ally with a tinge of red. 
The flowers ftand in great numbers on the 
branches, into which the main ftalk divides at 
the top, and they are large, and of a fine red. 
The capfules are fmall, and contain very mi- 
nute feeds. ? 
It is common on walls and on th 
old houfes, and flowers in July. Beng 
C. Bauhine calls it Sedum’ m 
ajus vulgare, 
thers, Sempervivum majus, 
O- 
Its virtues are the fame with thofe of orpi 
but it poffefles them in a fuperior degree. ites 
he ud aftringenr, Outwardly it is excel- 
ent for fore eyes, the jui i 
and mixed wher open aaieaes 
It is alfo a famous remedy for corns, weting 
them well with the juice, and then coverings them 
with a piece of the fkin of the leaf. sj 
Internally it is cooling in fevers, and is particu 
larly good in thofe attended with fharp diartheeas. 
A cooling ointment may be made of the bruifed 
leaves boiled in lard, which will anfwer all the’ 
purpoles of the unguentum populneum, 
- DIVL 
