192 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
85. Sedum oxypetalum H. B. & K. (fig. 109). 
S. oxypetalum Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth, " Nov. Gen. et Sp.," 6, 
45, 1823. Hemsley, " Biol. Centr. Amer., Bot.," 1, 397. " N. Amer. 
Flora," 22, 69. 
The most tree-like of the shrubby Sedums, forming a trunk-like 
stem which, in old plants, is several inches thick at the base and covered 
with rough, brown bark. The bush tends to assume in greenhouses 
a rounded form and a height of 2 to 3 feet. Distinguished by its 
Fig. 108. — S. Alberti Regel. 
arborescent habit and smallish flat terminal cymes of dull red starlike 
flowers. 
Description. — A glabrous, erect, sub-shrub, 2 to 3 feet higb. Stem stout, erect, 
much branched, lower part very thick, bare, grey, rough. Leaves flat, fleshy, 
alternate, green, i to i| inch long, obovate-spathulate, rounded or retuse at apex, 
attenuate below, scarcely stalked, slightly spurred. Cymes terminal, lax, flat, 
very leafy, i to 2 inches across, of 3 forked-branches with flowers in the'forks, the 
bracts resembling the leaves. Buds lanceolate, ribbed, bluntly pointed, rather 
dark red. Flowers star-like, ^ inch across, sessile, dull red, with a strong scent 
of honey. Sepals small, green, fleshy, acute, tapering from a broad base, unequal. 
Petals linear-lanceolate, very acute, patent, 4 times the sepals, flesh-coloured, 
pale in the upper part. Stamens shorter than the petals, spreading, filaments 
red, anthers buff. Scales yellowish, cuneate, ^ the carpels. Carpels spreading, 
red, shorter than the stamens, spreading widely in fruit • styles erect, slender, 
yellow. 
Flowers June-July (gentle heat) ; July-August (cold frame). Not 
hardy. 
Habitat. — Central Mexico. 
Originally described, nearly a century ago, from specimens in 
Mexican gardens. It has been in cultivation in England for at least 
