ACCOUNT OF GENUS SEDUM AS FOUND IN CULTIVATION. 293 
SECTION IX.— EPETEIUM. 
Section Epeteium Boissier, "Flor. Orientalis," 2, 776. 
Annual, rarely biennial. Inflorescence cymose, 2- or many- 
branched, or corymbose. Leaves semiterete or cylindrical (rarely 
flat), not rosulate. Hardy or tender. 
A. Planifolia . . . siellatum, formosanum, Someni. 
B. Teretifolia. 
a. Flowers white, red, or hispanicum, villosum, coeruleum, 
blue rubens. 
b. Flowers yellow . annuum, Leblancae. 
There is a considerable number of annual species of Sedum which 
come under the above definition, and they are widely distributed. 
Very few are in cultivation or worth growing. A few are Euro- 
pean, but they are much more abundant in the nearer East and in 
China, and some are American (chiefly Mexican) . 
S. rubens, and one or two allies, are usually placed in a separate 
section, Procrassula Schonland (= Aithales Webb and Berth.) 
characterized especially by possessing only five stamens. But the 
discovery in China in recent years of several Sedums (e.g., S. Scallanii 
Diels, 5. Schoenlandi Hamet, S. Seelemanni Hamet, S. Someni Hamet, 
S. ambiguum Praeger) possessing, like the Procrassulas (which are a 
European group) only five stamens, but not otherwise related to 
them, tends to discount the value of Procrassula as a natural group. 
The suppression of the alternate stamens appears to be an abortion 
occurring irregularly throughout the genus, and not characteristic 
of any natural group or groups. 
A. Planifolia. 
142. Sedum stellatum Linn. (fig. 174). 
5. stellatum Linn., " Species Plantarum," 431, 1753. Masters in Gard. 
Chron. 1878, ii. 751. 
Illustrations. — Sibthorp, " Flora Graeca," tab. 446. Cusin and 
Ansberque, " Herb. Flor. Fran9aise, Crassul.," tab. 9. Camerarius, " I cones " 2, 
1598. 
A small annual of no merit so far as gardens are concerned. Easily 
recognized among the annual species by its comparatively large 
spathulate leaves and purplish petals, eventually only half as long 
as the sepals. 
Description. — A glabrous winter annual, appearing in autumn and flowering 
in June. Stems usually branched below, decumbent at base, ascending or 
spreading, stout, leafy, 2 to 6 inches long. Leaves alternate, spatliulate, cuneate 
at base, rounded at apex, sometimes with a blunt deflexed point, shortly stalked. 
