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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



special and characteristic appearance. It is really chiefly because of 

 their various xerophytic features that we admire them. They are always 

 curious, sometimes grotesque, very often grand and imposing, or very 

 handsome, and in the Cactaceae we find a special ornamentation of spines 

 sometimes very beautiful. But in addition they very often possess the 

 most gorgeous flowers of the purest and most brilliant tints known in 

 Nature. This is true of many Cactaceae, of many Crassulaceae, of many 

 Mesembryanthemums, and of a number of others. The Phyllocactae 

 exhibited every year by Messrs. Jas. Veitch & Sons at the Temple Show 

 may be remembered, but the various kinds of Epiphyllum, now rarely seen, 

 are equally beautiful, and, among the Crassulaceae, Bochea (Kalosanthes) 

 coccinea was once commonly seen at exhibitions, while, among more 

 recent introductions, such plants as Kalanchoe flammea, K. Dyeri, and 

 K. keicensis are unrivalled in point of beauty. 



It is a fact I should like to point out that many plants not grown in 

 collections as succulents have good claim to be included. Many orchids 

 have a perfect title to be regarded as succulent plants ; orchids and 

 succulents, in fact, are sometimes found growing together under the 

 same conditions. Fortunately there is a conventional limitation to 

 what we grow as a succulent plant, and by this convention I must now 

 be limited. 



Succulent plants are frequently found in natural groups occupying 

 different parts of the world, and so I propose to take you in imagination 

 to the countries where these groups are found.* 



Britain. 



We have not far to go to finS our first examples. ' In Britain we have 

 an interesting set of Sedums, a Cotyledon and a Sempervivum. What 

 can be more charming in a garden than an edging of Sedum album ? 

 Or is there anything more splendid than a sheet of golden Sedum acre ? 

 Semper iivum tectorum, the houseleek, is not really native, but is commonly 

 grown on roofs in villages. It is used for the cure of warts and corns, 

 and was once supposed to be good for fevers. For this reason, by an 

 edict of Charlemagne, it is said to have been made common over the 

 whole of Europe. 



Continent of Eueope. 



On the Continent, Sedums and Sempervivums are still the chief 

 succulents, but in this larger area we get greater variety. Neither of 

 these genera has been fully worked out, and forms may still be found 

 that differ in some degree from those that have been already defined. 

 They make very interesting garden collections, and much interest awaits 

 the traveller and tourist, who would find them transmitted quite easily. 

 Hybrid Sedums are not familiar, but Sempervivums hybridise freely in 

 the garden and in a wild state. I have recently received Sempervivum 

 TJiompsonii, a cross between S. arachnoideum and S. tectorum. 



Sedum amplexicaulc drying up to spindle-shaped stems in summer 

 is most curious; S. glaucum is commonly used for bedding out; 



* As the lecturer remarked, he had no means of showing scenery, but a large 

 number of lantern slides of the plants themselves was exhibited. 



