SUCCULENT PLANTS. 



479 



Ccropegia. — Two species are native in Ceylon, G. Gardneri (" Bot. 

 Mag.," t. 5306), with pale purplish-spotted flowers, similar to C. elegans, 

 but larger ; and C. Thioaitesii (" Bot. Mag.," t. 4758), a distinct plant 

 with pretty flowers. The leaves are ovate acuminate ; the tube of the 

 corolla is slender, of a yellow colour, expanding above, and there sprinkled 

 with blood-red spots ; the segments are connivent into a cone with a 

 band of dark purple and a green tip. 



China. 



Sedum sarmentosum is well known in the variegated form as 

 S. carneum variegatum. Among other new species described by 

 Franchet in the "Journal de Botanique," 1896, S. nobile and S. primu- 

 loides are probably worth introduction. 



Japan. 



Sedum spectabile is distinctly a fine plant from this country, and 

 S. Sieboldii is also useful. An outlying Echeveria I have noted as worth 

 introduction, and it may be Cotyledon Sihokiana of Makino in the 

 " Botanical Magazine " of Tokyo. 



From Japan we are but on a return journey, and have little of much 

 interest to meet with. The almost ubiquitous Sedum we find on the 

 Amur to be represented by S. Middendorfianum and S. Maximowiczii, 

 which also grows in Japan. In Siberia among others we meet with 

 S. hybrid inn and S. Eiversii. On the Himalayas the last species and 

 a few other Crassulaceae, including Cotyledon, occur. The Caucasus have 

 several well-known species, including S. stoloniferum and S. spurium. 

 In Asia Minor is a section of Cotyledon to which no reference has yet 

 been made, viz. Umbilicus, and from other sections this appears to be 

 distinguished by having the calyx nearly, if not quite, as long as the 

 corolla, and a corolla tubular or campanulate with a terete tube. The 

 cultivated species we may here meet with are U. clirysanthus, not unlike 

 a Sempervivinn, with yellow flowers, and the not widely different 

 U. Pestalozzae. Sedum sempervivoides, described by its name and 

 with bright red flowers, is a handsome biennial species also found in 

 Asia Minor. Lastly, if we have friends calling at Crete, may it be asked 

 that they would kindly send us Sempervivinn mutabile, a plant that has 

 never been introduced ? 



Cultivation. 



It would be impossible not to include a paragraph on cultivation, but 

 it is to be observed that the great majority of succulent plants are very 

 easily cultivated. Many Cactaceae do require special treatment, and for 

 them every grower should consult Mr. Watson's book, noted under the head 

 of " Bibliography," p. 463. The few other succulent plants which present 

 any difficulty are found chiefly among the Asclepiads. For Stapelias 

 I have my own method, and that is to grow them in pans suspended from 

 the roof as if they were orchids. As much light as possible is essential, 

 and as gritty, loamy soil is the best, pots or pans must be used. I use 

 pans because of the spreading or decumbent habit of many of the species, 



