ORPINE FAMILY. Crassulaceae. 
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 
ie this handsome plant bear large, loose, 
Didleya Neve- ‘tather flat-topped clusters of orange-red 
dénsis (Cotyle- flowers, on coiling branches, and are about 
don) a foot tall, with scaly bracts, springing 
A grag Pos from a large handsome rosette on the 
Summer : 
Cddoruia 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. pulverulénta (Echeveria) is beautiful but weird- 
looking. It has red flowers, and the rosette, resembling 
a small Century-plant, is covered all over with a white 
powder which, among ordinary herbage, gives an exceed- 
ingly striking and ghostlike effect. This plant is some- 
times a foot and a half across, with as many as eight, tall 
stalks, and is found from San Diego to Santa Barbara. 
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