Hylotelephium telephium | |
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Hylotelephium telephium subsp. telephium | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Crassulaceae |
Genus: | Hylotelephium |
Species: | H. telephium |
Binomial name | |
Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H.Ohba | |
Subspecies | |
4 - see text | |
Synonyms | |
List
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Hylotelephium telephium (synonym Sedum telephium), known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John and witch's moneybags, is a succulent perennial groundcover of the family Crassulaceae native to Eurasia. The flowers are held in dense heads and can be reddish or yellowish-white. A number of cultivars, often with purplish leaves, are grown in gardens as well as hybrids between this species and the related Hylotelephium spectabile (iceplant), especially the popular 'Herbstfreude' ('Autumn Joy'). Occasionally garden plants may escape and naturalise as has happened in parts of North America.
The plant was known to botanists, including Dioscorides (Διοσκουρίδης, 40 AD – 90 AD) in his De Materia Medica (Greek : Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς) as Telephion (Greek : Τηλεφιον). [1] [2] Pliny, Gerard and Parkinson were among many later authors to describe Telephium. It was first formally described by Linnaeus in 1753, [3] as one of 15 species of Sedum, Gray included it and related species as a section of the genus Sedum. [4] These species differ markedly from the rest of that genus by a distinct ovary and ovules, flowering stems, leaves, inflorescence, flower parts, colour and blooming time and chromosome number. Consequently, Ohba (1977) segregated these species into a separate genus, Hylotelephium with 28 species, specifying Hylotelephium telephium as the type species. [5] [6] [7] Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that these species constitute a distinct clade, separate from the very large Sedum genus, which is paraphyletic. Sedum is widely considered to be an unnatural catch-all taxonomic grouping. [8] That clade, originally given the informal name Telephium and later Hylotelephium, was given the taxonomic rank of tribe Telephieae. [9] The name Hylotelephium telephium has been widely, but not universally adopted. [10] [11]
The name Telephium was thought to be named after a surgical term for an ulcer that was particularly difficult to cure. This in turn was named after King Telephus who suffered from a spear wound that would not heal (see Uses ). [12] [13]
Hylotelephium telephium has earned many common names in English, including orpine, [14] livelong, life-everlasting, live-forever, [lower-alpha 1] frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, midsummer-men, orphan John and witch's moneybags. [lower-alpha 2] [17]
There are several subspecies. Ohba accepted the following: [5]
The species is endemic from Europe to Asia, but has been widely introduced elsewhere, particularly N America. It can be found growing in fields, around hedges, hills, and on gravelly or calcareous soils. [18] In the UK, it is found in woodland and near hedges. [14]
The very young leaves can be eaten raw, and both the young leaves and firm tubers can be cooked. [19]
The plant has been used medicinally, being used by the Romans to treat wounds, and in later times to treat internal ulcers. [20] It has also been used for love-divination, as the stems and leaves can store water, when picked, hence common name livelong. They were hung in a room where a girl was to be married to a boy. If the stems grew together, this 'sign' would mean that the marriage would be blessed and she would be happy. Alternatively, if they grew apart, the marriage prospects looked bad, and if a stem died, this would portent death. [14]
The Crassulaceae, also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Flowers generally have five floral parts. Crassulaceae are usually herbaceous but there are some subshrubs, and relatively few treelike or aquatic plants. Crassulaceae are a medium size monophyletic family in the core eudicots, among the order Saxifragales, whose diversity has made infrafamilial classification very difficult. The family includes approximately 1,400 species and 34–35 genera, depending on the circumscription of the genus Sedum, and distributed over three subfamilies. Members of the Crassulaceae are found worldwide, but mostly in the Northern Hemisphere and southern Africa, typically in dry and/or cold areas where water may be scarce, although a few are aquatic.
Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into the southern hemisphere in Africa and South America. The plants vary from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have water-storing leaves. The flowers usually have five petals, seldom four or six. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals. Various species formerly classified as Sedum are now in the segregate genera Hylotelephium and Rhodiola.
Prometheum is a genus of plants in the family Crassulaceae.
Dudleya, commonly known as liveforevers is a genus of rosette-forming succulent plants in the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, consisting of about 68 taxa in southwestern North America and Guadalupe Island. The species come in many forms, some large and evergreen, others geophytic and deciduous. Yet, despite their dramatic variations in appearance, most species readily hybridize. The flowers of Dudleya have parts numbered in fives, with the petals arranged in tubular, star-shaped, and bell-shaped forms and, when fruiting, are filled with tiny, ovoid-crescent-shaped seeds.
Petrosedum rupestre, also known as reflexed stonecrop, Jenny's stonecrop, blue stonecrop, stone orpine, prick-madam and trip-madam, is a species of perennial succulent flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to northern, central, and southern Europe.
Rhodiola is a genus of perennial plants in the family Crassulaceae that resemble Sedum and other members of the family. Like sedums, Rhodiola species are often called stonecrops. Some authors merge Rhodiola into Sedum.
Phedimus spurius, the Caucasian stonecrop or two-row stonecrop, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is still widely listed in the literature as Sedum spurium.
Hylotelephium spectabile is a species of flowering plant in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae, native to China and Korea. Its common names include showy stonecrop, iceplant, and butterfly stonecrop.
Rosularia is a small genus of the family Crassulaceae. It includes about 28-35 species from Europe, the Himalayas, and northern Africa.
Hylotelephium is a genus of flowering plants in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae. It includes about 33 species distributed in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Sedum album, the white stonecrop, is a flowering plant of the genus Sedum in the family Crassulaceae. It is found in the northern temperate regions of the world, often growing in crevices or free-draining rocky soil. As a long-day plant it grows vegetatively for most of the year and flowers in summer.
AnacampserosL. is a genus comprising about a hundred species of small perennial succulent plants native to Southern Africa, Ethiopia and Latin America. The botanical name Anacampseros is an ancient one for herbs supposed to restore lost love.
Aizopsis is a genus of the succulent family Crassulaceae, found in east Asia.
Phedimus is a genus of the succulent family Crassulaceae, with about 18 species, distributed in eastern Europe and Asia. The genus is described with two subgenera, but one of these is also recognized as a separate genus, Aizopsis. Phedimus kamtschaticus is widely grown as an ornamental ground cover and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Sedum spathulifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names broadleaf stonecrop, yellow stonecrop, and spoon-leaved stonecrop. An evergreen perennial, it is native to western North America from British Columbia to southern California, where it can be found often in shade in many types of rocky habitat in coastal and inland hills and mountains.
Orostachys is a genus of the succulent family Crassulaceae that contains about 15 species. It is a biennial herb growing in China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia. Eight species occur in China.
Hypericum aegypticum is a species of flowering plant of the St. John's wort family (Hypericaceae) which is native to the Eastern Mediterranean. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in the second volume of his Species Plantarum in 1753, who named it after Egypt despite it not being distributed there. The plant is commonly known as shrubby St. John's wort or Egyptian St. John's wort in English. Like other members of section Adenotrias, it is found among limestone rocks in coastal areas. While it has been evaluated as threatened on the island of Malta, the species has no legal protections.
Sempervivoideae is the largest of three subfamilies in the Saxifragales family Crassulaceae, with about 20–30 genera with succulent leaves. Unlike the two smaller subfamilies, it is distributed in temperate climates. The largest genus in this subfamily is Sedum, with about 470 species.
Dudleya saxosa subsp. collomiae, known by the common name Gila County liveforever, is a subspecies of perennial succulent plant within the genus Dudleya native to central Arizona. It is characterized by showy bright-yellow flowers on an upright inflorescence colored pink, red or orange. The leaves are green or covered in a white, powdery wax. This species is found growing in rocky slopes, canyons, and crevices, and often on Sonoran Desert sky islands.
Hylotelephium cyaneum, commonly known as the azure stonecrop, is a perennial mat-forming succulent groundcover plant of the family Crassulaceae. Its native range is in eastern Siberia and Russian Far East.