SEDUM SEDIFORME

Family:- CRASSULACEAE

Common Names:- Mediterranean stonecrop

Synonyms:- Sedum altissimum, Sedum nicaeensis.

Meaning:- Sedum (L) A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher

Pliny, reference to the plants habit of ''sitting'' on rocks etc.

Sediforme (L) With the habit of a stonecrop.

General description:- Robust, hairless (glabrous), somewhat covered with a waxy

bloom short to medium perennial.

Stems:-

1) Ascending flowering stems 25-60 cm and shorter non-flowering shoots, both

woody at the base.

Leaves:-

1) Greyish-green, oblong or narrowly ellipsoidal, thick but somewhat flattened on

the upper surface, usually apiculate shortly spurred, suberect closely imbricate

in spiral rows on the non-flowering shoots.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence without bracts, erect and subglobose in bud, with strongly recurved

branches, concave in fruit.

2) Flowers 5- to 8-merous, on very short pedicels.

3) Sepals c. 2·5 mm, ovate, obtuse or mucronate, glabrous.

4) Petals 5-8 mm, patent, greenish-white or straw-coloured.

5) Stamens 10-16.

Fruit:-

1) Follicles erect, pale yellow or greenish-white.

Key features:-

1) Living leaves on non-flowering shoots not confined to a terminal cluster; dead

leaves mostly not persistent.

2) Petals spreading (patent), greenish-white to very pale yellow.

3) Sepals 2·5 mm, glabrous.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky habitats on various substrates, sometimes ruderal on stone walls

of old buildings, often in the sublittoral zone, but also inland, occasionally to 900 m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece. Mediterranean region from Portugal to Lebanon.

Limited distribution on Crete, mainly around coastal areas.

Flowering time:- May-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton