ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 267 
Illustrations. — Sowerby, "English Bot." ed. 3, pi. 536. Reichenbach, 
"Flor. German.," 23, tab. 61. 
This common plant, though variable, can without difficulty be 
separated from its allies of the rupestre section. The inflorescence 
drooping in bud separates it from all but refiexum ; the leaves flat 
on face divide it from refiexum and anopetalum ; the subglobular 
young inflorescence is shared only by refiexum and altissimum among 
its allies. In its stems, shaggy below with withered leaves, it is 
matched only by Douglasii. 
Description. — An evergreen creeping perennial, forming a mat, usually 
glaucous. Stems creeping, much branched, branches ascending, shaggy with 
withered leaves below, densely leafy above ; barren branches short with ascending 
tips, flowering branches with less crowded leaves, 6 to 12 inches high, drooping 
in bud. Leaves of barren shoots linear to linear-oblanceolate, ^ to | inch long 
by ^ inch broad, sessile, apiculate, fleshy, flattish on face, rounded on back, 
very crowded towards the tip of the shoots, where they form dense rosettes ; 
those of the flowering shoots lanceolate, ascending, more distinctly spurred. 
Inflorescence an umbellate cyme of about 5 forked branches with a few bracts 
at the primary branching ; subglobose in bud owing to the reflexure of the 
branches, flattish in full flower, hollow-topped in fruit owing to the straightening 
out and growth of the branches. Buds oval, with straight sides, strongly ribbed. 
Flowers nearly ^ inch across, mostly 5- (often 6- to 8-) parted, pedicels slender, 
shorter than the flowers. Sepals triangular, longer than broad, nearly free ; 
only slightly fleshy, green, persistent in fruit. Petals oblong-linear, blunt, con- 
cave, golden yellow, wide-spreading, more than twice the sepals. Stamens 
yellow, spreading, equalling the petals. Scales small, yellow, quadrate. Carpels 
yellow, erect in flower and fruit. 
Flowers July. Hardy. 
Habitat. — West Europe, from Spain to Germany. Naturalized 
in some parts of the British Isles, where it is an old and familiar 
garden plant ; possibly native in the west. 
Though not so variable as its near ally 5. refiexum, it shows a 
considerable range as regards size and colour. The plant is always 
recognizable by its crowded linear leaves quite fiat on the upper surface. 
In size it ranges from robust to slender and about half the size (var. 
minus auct.), and in colour from purple-glaucous tipped with red to 
uniform green. The var. Forsterianum (5. Forsterianum Smith, 
" English Bot." 26, pi. 1802) is a slender green form with inflorescence 
rather round-topped instead of flat. In a large series of cultivated 
forms which I got together in my garden, the green forms were all 
of small size, and so far agreed with Forsterianum, but the inflorescence 
character was not constant. The smallest forms which I met with 
were glaucous like the type. 
Rouy and Camus (" Flore de France," 7, iii) admit several varieties 
(Lejeunii, aureum, Trevirense), in which the principal character is 
the shape of the barren shoot ; but this depends largely on questions 
of soil, situation, and condition, as the leaves tend to extend widely 
in shade or moisture, and to close up into a dense, egg-shaped mass 
in exposure or drought ; so the shape of the shoots is an awkwaid 
character to use for diagnostic purposes. For ordinary purposes 
var. Forsterianum (the small slender green form) and var. minus 
(glaucous Uke the type but much smaller in all its parts) alone seems 
worth distinguishing. 
