THE REFLEXED-LEAVED STONE-CROP— continued. 
generally packed closely one above another. Such a power of resistance to drought 
and such a retention of the vegetative faculty do these structures bestow upon them 
that specimens of this Family required for the herbarium have to be plunged for a 
short time into boiling water to kill them before they are put in the press, or they 
will continue to grow, actually sprouting whilst between the pressing-boards. It is 
probably in correlation with this storage of moisture that vegetative multiplication 
frequently occurs in the group, either in the form of offsets, so that a cushion-like 
colony is produced, or even by adventitious buds on the edges of the leaves, as in 
the Tropical genus Bryophyllum. As in other xerophytes, a considerable accumulation 
of malic or other acid occurs in their juices, and, whatever may be the origin of this, 
it probably serves as a protection against browsing, to which such green juicy plants, 
growing often on the margins of desert areas, would otherwise be liable. 
The inflorescences in the Family are generally somewhat complex unilateral 
cymes, and it is to this character rather than to the direction of its leaves that Sedum 
reflexum Linne owes its specific name. One of its former names was scorpioides, 
referring to the same structure. The flowers are usually strikingly polysymmetric 
and star-like, having an equal number of equal parts in the calyx, corolla, and 
gynaeceum, and double that number in the androecium. The number in each of the 
alternating floral whorls varies from three to thirty. The sepals persist and may be 
united, as also may the petals and the carpels. The fruit is usually a ring of many- 
seeded follicles. Flies are attracted by the secretion of nectar by a scale at the base 
of each carpel, while self-pollination is generally prevented by the stamens maturing 
in advance of the stigmas. 
The large genus Sedum consists of herbs, mostly belonging to the Temperate 
Zone, with from four to six parts in each floral whorl and no union between the 
petals. Its name, which occurs in Pliny, is derived from the Latin sedeo, I sit, and 
refers to the prostrate mode of growth usual in the group. Their numerous small 
seeds are widely scattered and they can mostly accommodate themselves to very 
unfavourable situations, so that garden species, such as S. reflexum, often become 
established over considerable areas with a wild-seeming aspect. 
This species has apparently no truly popular ‘English name ; but Petiver, in 
his “ Herbarium Britannicum ” calls it Crooked Yellow Sengreen. 
