[312] Sedum album, White Stonecrop and Others

[312] Sedum album, White Stonecrop and Other Sedum

Introduction

Approximately thirty species of Sedum are found in Britain out of about five hundred. They are sprawling, very low-growing succulent plants that spread vegetatively for much of the year and may be hard to identify until they flower. Sedum album, White Stonecrop, is a common species with white flowers.

Species of Sedum and some related genera are also called stonecrops.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Saxifragales

Family – Crassulaceae

Subfamily – Sempervivoideae

Tribe – Sedeae

Genus – Sedum

Scientific Names – Sedum alba and others

Taxonomy of Sempervivoideae is uncertain. Many varieties of Sedum are cultivated as garden plants but are not generally assigned to a specific species.

Name

They are called Stonecrop because they appear to grow out of stones. Sedum is the Latin name of a plant called the houseleek, a close relative of the modern Sedum genus.

Album, as we have seen (generally in the feminine form, alba) means white.

Description

The taxonomy of the whole Sempervivoideae subfamily is complex, changing and uncertain, and the genus Sedum is still polyphyletic – even though many species have been moved out of the genus. It’s a collection of similar looking succulent plants.

Its six hundred species have been reduced to four or five hundred fairly recently be removing 32 separate genera. A study from 2020 has proposed merging Sedum with the rest of the tribe Sedeae, which would give it a total of 750 species.

It won’t surprise you that there is no general agreement on how to divide Sedum into subgenera and sections

In addition to its complex and uncertain taxonomy, any identification to species level is made more difficult because the plants have two different forms. For most of the year they grow vegetatively and form a solid, mat-like cover of small, succulent leaves – cylindrical with blunt, rounded tips.

It is only in the period of flowering in summer that taller erect stems emerge bearing small, dense inflorescences of white or yellow flowers.

Species

• Sedum acre – Biting Stonecrop, Mossy Stonecrop, Goldmoss Stonecrop or Wallpepper. Native to all of Europe. Low growing in stony areas such as beaches and walls. The flowers are bright yellow.
• Sedum album – White Stonecrop. This is also low growing on stony soils. The stems with white flowers emerge in July and August
• Sedum reflexum – Also known as Sedum rupestre or Petrosedum reflexum, Reflex (or Reflexed) Sedum, is another similar common species. Other names include Blue Stonecrop, Stone Orpine, Jenny’s Stonecrop, Prick-madam and Trip-madam. My identification app consistently identified some Sedum as this species in the winter. In summer when it flowered it was identified as White Sedum but the app kept calling some of it (not yet flowering) Reflex Sedum.  Native to much of Europe. Low growing and sometimes blue-grey, as other Sedum species.
• Sedum sarmentosum – Stringy Stonecrop, Gold Moss Stonecrop or Graveyard Moss. Native to East Asia. Flowers are yellow. Widely cultivated sometimes on graves.
• Sedum sexangulare – Tasteless Stonecrop. Similar to Sedum Acre, native to Eurasia and often cultivated.
• Sedum telephium – [180] Orpine, generally known as Hylotelephium telephium.

I will not attempt species identification for my pictures.

Habitat and use

Species of Sedum are found throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, Africa and South America. Sedum album is found all over the Northern Hemisphere. Sedum generally cannot compete with more vigorous species but is adapted to survive in thin, dry soils or rocky places.

Many species are cultivated as ornamental garden plants and house plants. Many named cultivars are hybrids or unspecified species.

Sedum is sometimes used as a green roof covering.

Other Notes

I have found Sedum on walls, pavements and stony car parks. My yellow flowered pictures come from gravestones.

See also

Orpine is one of many species that have been moved out of the genus Sedum.

[180] Hylotelephium telephium, Orpine

[180] Hylotelephium telephium, orpine

Introduction

Hylotelephium telephium, Orpine, is a common garden plant with many common and scientific names.

Its other common names include Livelong, Frog’s Stomach, Harping Johnny, Life-everlasting, Live-forever, Midsummer-men, Orphan John and Witch’s Moneybags.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Saxifragales

Family – Crassulaceae

Subfamily – Sempervivoideae

Tribe – Telephieae

Genus – Hylotelephium

Scientific Name – Hylotelephium telephium

It has over fifty synonyms including its original name Sedum telephium.

There are many varieties and named cultivars.

Name

Opine come via Old French from Latin auripigmentum meaning gold-colour.

This plant has been known as telephion to the Ancient Greeks, so it was originally called Sedum telephium. It was split off with several other species to become Telephium telephium before becoming Hylotelephium telephium. (Current rules do not allow the species epithet to be the same as the genus for plants, although it is allowed and fairly common for animals.) the prefix hylo- means wood. The Greek telephion seems to come from a surgical term for an ulcer, which in turn comes from King Telephus, who suffered from a spear wound that would not heal.

Description

Orpine grows as a large bush with serrated, succulent leaves.

The large inflorescences of tiny buds grow into flowers coloured various shades of purple-pink.

Habitat and use

Orpine is native to Europe and Asia but has been introduced and naturalized elsewhere, especially North America where it is considered invasive.

It was known as early as the First Century. Its young leaves can be eaten raw and the leaves and tubers are eaten cooked.

The Romans used it to treat wounds and later for ulcers.

It is now widely cultivated as a garden plant in many varieties.

See also

The genus Sedum still has hundreds of species but is still considered to be widely polyphyletic, despite many of its former species being moved within the subfamily Sempervivoideae. See [312] Stonecrop.