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Kalanchoe arborescens - a Madagascan giant

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Walker, Colin (2019). Kalanchoe arborescens - a Madagascan giant. Society Newsletter(130) pp. 81–84.

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NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019

FRONT COVER

Roy Mottram kindly supplied: “The Diet” copy of this Japanese herbal which is sharp and crisp (see page 97). “I counted the plates, and this copy is complete with 200 plates, in 8 parts, bound here in 2 vols. I checked for another Sedum but none are Established April 1987, now ending our present, so Maximowicz was basing his 32nd year. S. kagamontanum on this same plate, Subscriptions run from October to the following September. Anyone requesting translating the location as Mt. Kaga and to join after June, unless there is a special citing t.40 incorrectly. The "t.43" plate request, will receive his or her first number is also wrong. It is actually t.33 of Newsletter in October. If you do not the whole work, or Vol.2 t.8. The book is receive your copy by the 10th of April, July or October, or the 15th January, then bound back to front [by Western standards] please write to the editor: Ray as in all Japanese books of the day.” RM. Stephenson, 8 Percy Gardens, EDITORIAL Choppington, Northumberland, NE62 5YH, UK (or E-mail address: Ignoring the regulators, the post office [email protected] ) hiked prices a week in advance of the set If you do not wish to retain membership, please return this Newsletter to sender. date. As a result, I needed to post overseas Subscription rates: UK £12·00 Europe Newsletters no later than 11.00 a.m., £20.00 (€22), North America £18, Saturday 23rd March, or incur an extra bill. ($30·00), rest of world £18·00. As far as inland mail is concerned, we use North American members should send nd nd payment by $US check (payable to Sue 2 class or “2 class large” which have Haffner) to Sue Haffner, 3015 Timmy, been stock-piled before the increase. Clovis, CA 93612-4849, USA E-mail: [email protected] I apologise for the quality of the All other payments should be made to Les “Exchange” booklets. I realised during Pearcy, 43 Hawleys Close, Matlock, printing that an old printer was not Derbyshire, DE4 5LY, UK. functioning perfectly but thought all was Payments should be made by Paypal in still readable, so made no reprint. sterling to: [email protected] , or by £cheque, postal order, bank draft (payable Now that the Northern Hemisphere is to the Sedum Society) or bank notes enjoying its summer, please note growth (£sterling or €cash). The Society’s internet page is: and anomalies in your collection. If you are http://www.cactus-mall.com/sedum/ also lucky enough to spot stonecrops on your see http://www.cactus- journeys or holidays – make photographic mall.com/sedum/habitat/html and textual notes wherever possible. When We have all original back issues + 1-100 on still working for a living we holidayed on DVD and 101-120 on CD available from Ray Stephenson. the Greek island of Kefalonia in August which proved to be highly frustrating due to the fact that most were spent and the extreme heat near sea level was, at times, 78

NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019 unbearable. This year we decided to revisit, A particular thanks goes to the few who but in spring. Hopefully we can update our offered huge numbers of taxa in the findings in a future Newsletter. Cuttings Exchange knowing that many The next issue of the Newsletter is well parcels would need to be made up for those planned with our first article on new to the hobby and there would be little Pseudosedum, another on the contrasting chance of much in return. forms of Sedum rubens in the Balearics. SYNOPSIS We have also prearranged an article on Indumentum of Petrosedum sp. hybridizing Mexican . It is most satisfying that after c700 pages of news and Das Indumentum von Petrosedum sp. views, we still produce something new. L’ indumentum de Petrosedum sp. 80 Phedimus spurius has been blacklisted as an invasive weed in Germany. I find Kalanchoe arborescens in cultivation. this a little surprising as it completes very badly with mesophytic plants. Even in Kalanchoe arborescens in Kultur. the wild it is only found on the most Kalanchoe arborescens en cultivation. 81 inhospitable sites where mesophytic plants fail. It would be of great interest if members from C Europe could comment Sedum of Montenegro’s lowlands. on this. Margrit Bischofberger has Sedum im montenegrinischen Tiefland. already commented that in Switzerland P. stoloniferus is quicker to escape and Sedum dans le bas pays du Monténégro. 84 proliferate but adds “The very last reference in the article declaring Research on the name Sedum hispanicum L. P. spurius as ՙinvasive’ lists regions in 1755 var. eriocarpum (Guss.) Boiss. Switzerland where Phedimus stoloniferus has already become a big problem for Nachforschungen betr. den Namen von farmers! and that there is no cure for this! Sedum hispanicum L. 1755 var. eriocarpum Phedimus spurius has been cultivated (Guss.) Boiss. since 1808 in the Botanical Garden of La recherche du nom de Sedum hispanicum Berlin and was offered already in 1817 by L. 1755 var. eriocarpum (Guss.) Boiss. 86 nurseries!ˮ

Hylotelephium sieboldii (Sedum sieboldii) – Kanchi Gandi inserted in the list of plants introduction, typification, and . of the IPNI the names of Petrosedum sieboldii (Sedum sieboldii) – montanum f. lunigianica (SSN 128) and Einführung, Typifizierung und Kultivare. Sedum hispanicum f. durabilis (SSN 129) correcting them, according to the Hylotelephium sieboldii (Sedum sieboldii) provisions of the CODE, respectively in – introduction, typification et cultivars. 88 Petrosedum montanum f. lunigianicum and Sedum hispanicum f. durable. M.A.

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Indumentum of Petrosedum sp. Ray Stephenson.

Figure 1. Three of the ten propagules produced glaucous leaves. Looking back through early Newsletters, a in cultivation. In both France and Italy, I goodly number of authors comment on the have observed the same phenomenon with fact they found Petrosedum sediforme in P. montanum but not with P. thartii that two forms growing side-by-side — a I’ve only encountered in Slovenia. glaucous form and a glabrous form. In fact, In C Spain by early June 2018, mixed colonies are more common than not. Petrosedum amplexicaule had already In the Trigrad gorge of S. I took closed down for summer with no leaves photographs of P. ochroleucum with the present. I collected a small number of same two contrasting indumenta. I haven’t propagules from the same location in the had much experience of seeing P. rupestre Sierra de Ávila but only in September of the in the wild though I have contrasting forms same year, when leaves started to form, did 80

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I realise I had collected 2 different forms.

Kalanchoe arborescens – a Madagascan giant Colin C. Walker ([email protected]) Kalanchoe is a that has rarely for bonsai succulents (Figure 2) and I fell in featured in the pages of this Newsletter, so love with it! Two years later in 2014 I I thought I’d redress this situation with an acquired my own (Figure 3). I have article featuring a particularly unusual therefore only grown it for a relatively short species. time but from this limited experience I Kalanchoe is a diverse genus of around would describe this plant as being relatively 140 species with a wide distribution, slow-growing. My plant is ISI 2001-36, a ranging from Africa through to SE Asia rooted cutting from the Huntington Botanic (Descoings, 2003). Madagascar is a centre Garden plant HBG 73092, originally collected as seed as Röösli & Hoffmann of diversity with at least 55 species and th around 50 varieties (Boiteau & Allorge- 4598, on November 27 1998 SW of Boiteau, 1995), many of which are choice Ampanihy. Currently my plant is around 38 and hence most desirable for cultivation. cm tall, so it has a lot of growing to do to reach the size of the giants in habitat! The Here I showcase one of these stem is only about 1 cm in diameter at the Madagascan species, Kalanchoe base, but this can reach 10 cm across when arborescens that is very distinctive and fully grown. It is modestly branched with a uncommon, despite having been first slightly roughened surface to the bark described as long ago as 1933. It occurs in which is marked by a few vertical fissures. the extreme south of Madagascar where The terminally-arranged leaves up to 6 cm Rauh (1998) records it as “not very frequent long are in whorls of three, spoon-shaped in the dry bush between Ampanihy, (spathulate), glabrous, glossy-green often Itampolo and Tanjona Vohimena”. Its with a red edge especially when grown in name ‘arborescens’ meaning ‘tree-like’ is full sun. Overall it has a look reminiscent very apt since this is a large shrub or small of the more familiar Sedum dendroideum. tree growing up to 5 m tall. This species is For such a large-growing plant the flowers a giant in its genus and indeed it is one of are not very impressive, and my plant has the world’s largest ‘stone crops’, far yet to oblige, but I’m not holding my breath exceeding the height of the Mexican tree waiting for their arrival. The terminal (Sedum dendroideum, S. frutescens flower spike is only about 15 cm tall and the and S. oxypetalum). Allorge-Boiteau (1995) flowers are erect or pendent, about 1 cm and Rauh (1998) both show photos of large long with rounded (urceolate) tubes that are specimens growing in habitat. pale green outside and with lobes that are Kalanchoe arborescens is a rare species purple-spotted inside. not only in habitat but also in cultivation. I Kalanchoe arborescens belongs to a first encountered it at the Cactus & small group of shrubby Madagascan Succulent Society of America (CSSA) mid- species that includes K. beharensis, Eastern Convention held near Boston in K. grandidieri and K. dinklagei (syn. 2012. A fellow speaker, Susan Amoy, K. brevisepala) (Allorge-Boiteau, 1995; exhibited a magnificent specimen in a class Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau, 1995), 81

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K. grandidieri and K. dinklagei (syn. K. brevisepala) (Allorge-Boiteau, 1995; Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau, 1995). Of these, K. dinklagei appears to be its closest relative, from which it differs in having glabrous not tomentose stems and leaves. The flowers of K. arborescens are also very different, with those of K. dinklagei being longer, narrower and densely pilose. For anyone interested in kalanchoes I highly recommend the book on the Madagascan species by Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995). This includes reproductions of very attractive watercolour paintings by Dolly Lunais illustrating most of the native species and varieties. The text though is in French.

Figure 2. Kalanchoe arborescens on the show bench in a class for bonsai succulents at the CSSA mid-Eastern Convention, USA, in 2012. Plant about 1 m tall.

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Figure 3. My plant of K. arborescens in a 12∙5 cm diameter pot. References Allorge-Boiteau, L. (1995) Les Kalanchoe arborescents du sud de Madagascar. Succulentes 18(2): 8– 17. Boiteau, P. & Allorge-Boiteau, L. (1995) Kalanchoe (Crassulacées) de Madagascar. Systématique, écophysiologie et phytochimie. Karthala, Paris. 83

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Descoings, B. (2003) Kalanchoe in Eggli, U. (ed.) . Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp.143–181. Rauh, W. (1998) Succulent and xerophytic plants of Madagascar. Vol. 2. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, California.

Sedum hunting in Montenegro's lowlands. Pascal Raes

Montenegro, or Chernagora as they call it, a waterfall, where most 'normal' plants was a part of former Yugoslavia but is now would not survive. Most Sedum an independent country. In September hispanicum flowers had red veins, but some 2014 and 2015 I spent two weeks in the completely white flowers were noticed. village of Lepetane, at the Bay of Kotor Some plants had died in the flowering near the Adriatic Sea. Tivat is a nearby city process but many survived and behaved that and has an airport. year as perennials.

Figure 5. Cristate Petrosedum Figure 4. Lepetane marked in red. ochroleucum. The bay is surrounded by mountains. I did Sedum sexangulare f. montenegrinum not rent a car and only roamed the lower and Petrosedum were also very common on elevations. There the winters are mild but road cuts, gravel slopes and pathways, there is a high annual rainfall of 1650 mm anywhere the competition from other plants (65 inches). That's double the UK's was low. No plants of Sedum acre were 885 mm/33∙7 inches. noted. I took some cuttings of the The summer of 2014 was very wet (with Petrosedum and they all turned out to be lots of tasty chanterelles!) and there were P. ochroleucum, or P. albescens, as countless plants of Sedum hispanicum in Massimo Afferni has kindly split the green and mostly blue forms. I even found species. Here I found my first cristate form a colony on a wet, mossy rock wall behind in the wild (Figure 5), a Petrosedum 84

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Figure 6. Sedum dasyphyllum on a typical vertical site. collection were lost before I understood they need protection from winter rain. Sedum dasyphyllum is common, mostly in villages on vertical walls and roofs. Equally growing on walls was biennial Sedum cepaea, but in shadow. Umbilicus is another inhabitant of walls. Unfamiliar with this genus, I noticed only later that some plants had horizontal seed-heads, and others - drooping ones. It is tempting to name them, but as at least four species are Figure 7. Sedum cepaea in full shade. growing in the , I won't. growing in a rock cavity, well protected A colony of spent annuals was found. from the rain. Many cristates in my As they had shed all their seeds, the only 85

NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019 way of identifying them was to take some limestone rocks and niches. Why topsoil and hope for the best. They soon only grow on higher germinated in my greenhouse (before elevations in the wild, but belong to the winter) and flowered the following year. easiest succulents in our gardens, even at They had 5-partite, white flowers with a sea level, I never understood. single whorl of stamens, so they were In gardens, flower tubs and grave yards Sedum rubens as S hispanicum and I managed to identify S. ×rubrotinctum, S. eriocarpum have a double whorl of S. palmeri, S. mexicanum, S. dendroideum, stamens. S. praealtum, S. sarmentosum and was Graptopetalum paraguayense. They represented by maximum with remained outdoors all year. Montenegro is its greenish yellow flowers. Fast forward to at this moment not a member of the EU or 2015. The summer had been dry and hot the Shengen countries, yet it uses the euro and all the Sedum hispanicum had flowered as its currency. Be sure to have small notes and died, except on a very few, permanently and coins — some taxi drivers pretend to wet places. Even many of the Sedum have no change. Buy a dog chaser on e-bay, sexangulare had died. Other species it's cheaper than surgery. And watch out for seemed less affected by the amount of the many snakes on hot, dry days in this still rainfall. No Sempervivum were found largely unspoilt country. though the scene seemed right with lots of

Research on the name Sedum hispanicum L. 1755 var. eriocarpum (Guss.) Boiss.

Massimo Afferni.

Premise specific page of this succulent. It should Sedum hispanicum L. is indicated by also be noted, among other things, that in botanists and researchers to be a the nineteenth and early twentieth century, polymorphic species that is very variable in some Italian botanists, including G. the sense that it can take on different aspects Gussone (1844) and A. Trotter (1905), and forms still debated today and object of found, in the Italian south, plants of Sedum observation and study. It may be annual or hispanicum or variety of it (called Sedum biennial and rarely perennial (Praeger, hispanicum var. eriocarpum S. et S.) 1921; Stephenson, 1994; 't Hart, 2003). confusing it with another annual Sedum similar to it, i.e. Sedum eriocarpum Sibth. The variability of this species has led & Smith (Sibthorp & Smith, 1806; 't Hart, over time, by many authors, to give it 2003), a plant which, however, does not different names but almost all synonyms grow in Italy but in the European Orient such as can be seen in the online site (, Turkey, Cyprus), and is also very 'International Crassulaceae Network' on the variable in its form. 86

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Praeger (1921) in his work also indicates (e.g. Stephenson, 1994; Afferni, 2016), but two annual varieties: the first having carpels from the fact that his name (Sedum sometime glabrous (Sedum hispanicum var. hispanicum L. var. eriocarpum (Guss.) leiocarpum Boiss.) and the second with Boiss.) does not appear in any text except in carpels "sometimes more or less hairy" the article of Tavormina (1995). But (Sedum hispanicum var. eriocarpum neither Gussone (1844)) nor Boissier Boiss.). The said author then reports that (1982/83) nor, after them, Lojacono (1891) two varieties of Sedum hispanicum, or in their works indicate Sedum hispanicum, Sedum hispanicum var. minus Praeger and Sedum eriocarpum and Sedum hispanicum Sedum hispanicum var. bithynicum Boiss. var. eriocarpum to be multiannual plants, (Syn. of Sedum bythinicum Boiss.) [now but always annual. considered = S. pallidum – Ed.]. Rereading however with more attention Finally, Tavormina (1995), in his article than written by Praeger (1921) on Sedum on the taxa of the Sicilian sedum, inserts, hispanicum var. eriocarpum Boiss. said referring to the species Sedum hispanicum, author reports that this plant, “When grows Sedum hispanicum L. var. eriocarpum on walls, it tends to produce barren shoots (Guss.) Boiss., stating that it is a multi-year and to lose its annual character, thus plant with winter growth with pubescent- approaching Sedum hispanicum var. glandular follicles which has its habitat on bithynicum Boissier. [as also reported by a hills and mountains between 600 and Stephenson (1994)]. 1800 m, and is typical of Sicily. But despite Conclusion the research carried out on the texts indicated in the bibliography, opinion As previously indicated, therefore, requested in this regard to Ray Stephenson Tavormina seems to have created a new (personal communication) and contacts combination of the annual Sedum with the same Tavormina (who does not eriocarpum indicated by Gussone (1844), remember), this name does not appear in not the one from Sibthorp & Smith (1806), other literature. having the characteristic of pubescent- glandulose follicles, with Sedum Discussion hispanicum var. eriocarpum Boiss. not The problem concerning the Sedum annual, but pluriannual sensu Sedum hispanicum indicated by Tavormina is not hispanicum var. bithynicum Boiss., calling due to the fact that it is perennial as its it Sedum hispanicum L. 1755 var. habitat is hilly/mountainous, this aspect eriocarpum (Guss.) Boiss . also corroborated by other researches done

Bibliography Afferni M. (2016) - Annual and pluriennial biological cycle of Sedum hispanicum L. and Sedum grisebachii Boiss. & Heldr .: considerations. - Sedum Society Newsletter, April, 117: 67-71. Boissier, E. (1872) - Flora Orientalis. - Vol. 2. Basel, Geneva, Georg. pp. 766-798. Gussone, G. (1844) - Florae Siculae Synopsis, Vol. 1 e 2, Napoli, pp. 514-521/826-827. Lojacono, P. M. (1891) - Flora Sicula. - Vol.1, parte 2, Palermo, pp. 214-223. 87

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Praeger, L. (1921) - An account of the genus Sedum as found in cultivation - Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. Vol. XLVI, pp. 299-301. Stephenson, R. (1994) - Sedum Cultivated Stonecrops - Timber Press, Portland, Oregon., pp. 108-111. ‘t Hart, H. (2003) - Sedum of Europe - Swets & Zeitlinger B.V., Lisse, The Netherlands, pp. 57 e 73. Trotter, A. (1905) - Bullettino della Società Botanica Italiana, Sede di Firenze, Adunanza dell’8 gennaio, p 29. Sibthorp, J. & Smith, J. E. (1806) - Florae Graecae - Vol. 1, pag. 310. Tavormina, G. (1995) - Taxa della Sicilia appartenenti al genere Sedum - Piante Grasse, 15 (3): 93-99.

Hylotelephium sieboldii (Sedum sieboldii) – introduction, typification, and cultivars.

A plant so common in cultivation that it is perhaps taken for granted turns out to have an interesting history and nomenclatural issues that have been largely overlooked: by Julian Shaw, Horticultural , RHS.

Discovery and early confusion. observations on the plants there was The popularity of Hylotelephium sieboldii published by H. Yuasa in 1969 (Shokubutu as a cultivated plant both in Japan and the saisyu nyusu [News of plant collecting] 44: West, as opposed to a plant of known wild 59-60, in Japanese). origin, along with its very restricted natural This implied absence of wild distribution, probably accounts for the collections partly explains why dearth of early herbarium specimens. It is Fröderström (Gen. Sedum 1: 61-63. 1930) still known largely from cultivated material. struggled with its identity, and was Indeed, for a long time it was unknown in uncertain if it was distinct, treating it the wild. As late as 1965 with the somewhat hesitantly (it is marked ‘?’) as a appearance of the English language edition of S. alboroseum (now of Ohwi’s Flora of Japan comes this H. erythrostictum). However, he does illuminating comment, “Frequently provide the intriguing, though unsub- cultivated as a pot plant; recently stantiated and frankly unlikely, comment discovered in Shikoku (Shōdoshima Island, that it had been introduced to European in Sanuki Prov.)” now known as Kagawa gardens before Thunberg’s visit to Japan in Prefecture. A related plant has also been 1775, (discussed below). Siebold, who found in some localities in Toyama is credited with introducing this Prefecture, on the Japan Sea side of Honshu Hylotelephium, visited Japan from 1823 to and is regarded as a different taxon, 1828 well after Thunberg, and had to H. ettyuense or H. sieboldii var. ettyuense. smuggle materials out due to the restrictions There is also another variety described from in force at the time. Hubei Province, mainland China, as Fröderström also provides a quote from H. sieboldii var. chinense. A visit to the Paul Savatier (1830-1891), a French marine Shōdoshima Island locality and 88

NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019 medical officer and botanist, to the effect illustrations in Japanese publications, likely that it had grown in a wild state in Japan leading Fröderström to a confused picture. before 1759 on Mt. Kanamine, Yamato The earliest unambiguous collection of Province, now Nara Prefecture on Honshu. Hylotelephium sieboldii I have traced was This is a completely different locality to in fact by C.P. Thunberg the noted Swedish Shikoku cited above. This misinformation botanist and pupil of Linnaeus, who after is evidently base on Savatier’s 1875 book, spending about three years (17th April 1772 Botanique Japonaise. Livres Kwa-Wi, – 2nd March 1775) collecting at the Cape of traduits du Japonais, avec l’aide de M. Good Hope (South Africa) while he learned Saba, which is a commentary on an earlier Dutch, necessary to fulfil the post of Japanese work cited as Yōnan, Conf. Soo medical doctor to the Dutch East Indies Bokf. dated 1759, that was really a Japanese Company’s operation in Japan, set sail for Herbal correctly entitled Ka'i, and is the Java and thence to Japan where he arrived subject of a scholarly appraisal in an on 13th April 1775, returning to Europe in appendix to this article, by Yoko Otsuki. 1779. Due to the strict Japanese Edo era Savatier identifies a woodcut of a plant policy of exclusion in force at the time he depicted therein as Sedum sieboldii. was required to stay on the artificial island Evidently his identification is based on the of Deshima of about 32 acres extent in Japanese vernacular names listed [and his Nagasaki harbour. A high palisade knowledge of the plant], since the surrounded it and a guarded bridge was the description translated into French does not only access to the mainland. After about six match S. sieboldii at all. [This is because months he managed to obtain permission to the text is about the “Hisai” group of visit the adjacent mainland and collect sedums, while the plate is only of plants but always with several Japanese S. sieboldii, an example of a member of that ‘minders’. Eventually he was allowed to group.] Leaves shaped like Portulaca accompany the annual embassy to the oleracea, and yellow flowers with narrow, Emperor’s court in Edo, now Tokyo. He pointed petals would match the Japanese relates that during the return journey in Sedum sarmentosum, however. At the end 1776 he visited a botanical garden in Osaka of the paragraph he adds that ‘the plant is that had cultivated plants for sale. Needless also known with red flowers’ evidently to say, he purchased as many as possible trying to reconcile the obvious differences and returned with them to Deshima. This with his own experience of genuine may have been the source of his H. sieboldii S. sieboldii. There is no possibility of that appears unnamed in his Flora Japonica hybrids since Hylotelephium does not (1784, page 350) under Plantae Obscurae as hybridise with yellow-flowered groups “2. Sedum foliis subrotundis crenatis.” This such as Phedimus nor does it contain any record is supported by a pressed specimen taxa with yellow flowers. Franchet and later determined as Sedum sieboldii by Savatier had also published a catalogue of Maximovicz (originally labelled ՙՙSedum” Japanese plants in parts between 1873 and th only by Thunberg) in the part of Thunberg’s 1879. Part 1 page 160 (4 November 1873) herbarium termed “Plantae obscurae”, that lists, Sedum sieboldii, providing the still exists at Uppsala (Dr Mats Hjertson, localities cited above and references to 89

NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019 pers. com. Feb 2019; Juel, Plantae probably an error, it does raise the Thunbergianae: 41, 183. 1918). possibility that there was some Introduction and naming. misapplication of the name in to a species other than the one we know by Hylotelephium sieboldii, then known as that name today. Hence, if this reference is Sedum sieboldii, was introduced to used, it may be wise to attribute the name to cultivation in Britain from Japan in 1838 Hooker rather than Sweet as is usually seen (probably via Europe from Siebold’s plants; (as S. sieboldii Sweet or Sweet ex Hooker) it was ten years after his return from Japan) since it may in this instance have applied to by the Henderson’s family run nursery at a different plant. In any case the actual Pine Apple Place, Edgware Road in author of this new name in the third edition London. It appears amongst the Notices of of Hortus Britannicus should be G. Don as New and Rare plants in Paxton’s Magazine Robert Sweet had died in 1835, four years of Botany, (5: 187. 1838) as follows: before it was published in late 1839, and “Sedum sieboldii. A Japanese species of three years before Sedum sieboldii was some interest, and apparently perfectly introduced, so he could not be responsible hardy; its dense clusters of small pink for the name. However, in view of Paxton’s blossoms, with which the plant is most earlier publication as nomen subnudum, and profusely furnished, are exhibiting Hooker’s indirect quote from Paxton’s themselves at this nursery, and remain Magazine of Botany in referencing its expanded a considerable time”. While the introduction by Henderson, perhaps we description above does not provide a should be using S. sieboldii Paxton ex validating publication for the name, it does Hook. reassure that the plant was the same as we know today. According to Stearn (TL-1: Meanwhile in Europe the plant was 352), twelve monthly parts made up a widely distributed. A St. Petersburg seed volume of Paxton’s Magazine and each was list for December 1840 includes it as Sedum issued near the first of the month, with sieboldii, and Salm-Dyck, a German garden operations described near the end of botanist, in his garden list (Index plantarum each part, making dating of each part easy. succulentum in horto Dyckensi cultarum. Anno 184x: 65. 1843) also uses the same Hence Paxton’s item was published spelling, but it is absent from the 1834 about a year before the usually cited edition, consistent with the 1838 date of ‘earliest mention’ in Robert Sweet’s Hortus introduction to Britain. Roy Mottram Britannicus, a catalogue of all plants known suggested that S. sieboldtii derived from an to be in cultivation at the time. The third intentional Latinisation to sieboldtius, edition was edited by George Don (1798- creating the epithet sieboldtii. 1856), a botanist noted for his accuracy, and was published late in 1839. The name A record at Kew indicates that it was Sedum sieboldii hort., appeared on page flowering at Cobham Park, Surrey, in 270, with the puzzling annotation that the October 1851, while a specimen in the flowers were yellow, a point noted by London Natural History Museum records it eagle-eyed Roy Mottram while reviewing flowering in Venice, Italy in 1871. The an earlier draft of this article. While this is December seed list of St. Petersburg 90

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Botanic Gardens also offers seed as S. The Variegated clone. sieboldii, and on page 51, Eduard Regel This same year, 1863, saw the first (1815-1892) then Director of the garden illustration of a variegated plant in the wrote a Latin description providing the first Belgian horticultural magazine, validating publication of the name. Russian L’Illustration Horticole (10: t.373) edited Crassulaceae specialist Vjačeslav Byalt by the well-known cactus specialist, carefully investigated Regel’s specimens in Charles Lemaire (1800-1871) at Ghent the St. Petersburg herbarium (LE, now while working for Ambroise Verschaffelt. Komarov Botanical Institute) was able to It can be viewed at: designate a lectotype “65. 10 ex horto bot. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6 Petropolitano Sedum sieboldii hort. V. vv. 166736#page/148/mode/1up Regel.” (Byalt. 1996. Botanicheskii Lemaire states that S. sieboldii was Zhurnal (Moscow) 81: 59-61.) A short note introduced to cultivation from Japan by in Gartenflora (of which Regel was editor) Philipp Franz von Siebold, a Bavarian-born for July 1857 comments on S. sieboldii doctor and biologist for whom it is named, flowering in the St. Petersburg garden and sometime after he returned to Europe in describes it as an ornamental. 1830 and took up residence in Leiden. It Somehow publication of the name by was said he released the variegated plant Regel had gone unnoticed and Sedum commercially in 1863. The accompanying sieboldii was superfluously redescribed by colour plate (Figure 8) is from New and Hooker in the Botanical Magazine (89: rare beautiful-leaved plants: containing t.5358. 1863), which colour plate has since illustrations and descriptions of the most been designated as the “iconotype”, a term ornamental-foliaged plants not hitherto sometimes used when an illustration is noticed in any work on the subject by James chosen as a lectotype (Eggli, Illustr. Shirley Hibberd, a horticultural journalist. Handbk Succ. Pl.: Crassulac.: 138. 2005). (London: Bell and Daldy, 1870). The plate In March 2011, V. Byalt annotated several is inserted just before the description herbarium sheets at Kew. These specimens of “Sedum sieboldii Medio-Variegatum”. include collections made by a Kew The notes in the RHS Library catalogue gardener, Richard Oldham (1837-1864), of state that according to Desmond, this work plants cultivated in Japan (Nagasaki and was first published in eighteen-shilling Yedo) in 1861-62, that are date stamped parts during 1868-1869. The preface is “Herbarium Hookerianum 1867”. Possibly dated 30th September 1869. Most of the these Oldham collections may not have plates are copied, with different lettering arrived in time to have been seen by Hooker (and the elimination of lithoprintersʼ as he prepared his description published in names) from the second series of the 1863. A sheet of cultivated material grown Naudin and Rothschild work, Les plantes à in Cobham, Surrey, dated Oct 1851 would feuillage coloré (1867-70). Yet no have been seen by Hooker in preparing the attribution to this work appears in validating publication. Hibberdʼs text. In this instance the plate bears a striking similarity (it is a mirror image) to that appearing in L’Illustration

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Figure 8. 1870 depiction.

Horticole cited above. It seems that the By 1878 the plant was well known in Naudin and Rothschild work copied it from Britain as evidenced by its inclusion in a the original 1863 plate. serialised item on cultivated Sedum in

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Gardeners’ Chronicle (1879, 2 [vol. 10]: awarded by the RHS: 'Medio-pictum' (FCC, 591, 9th November) that recommended Herbst 1864); 'Medio-variegatum' (FCC, greenhouse cultivation in a hanging basket Salter 1864); and the following year, f. and noted the existence of a variegated variegatum (1865). In view of the short variety that “is even more tender when time elapsing between the awards and when grown in the open.” this plant became available one strongly names. suspects that only one clone was involved to which the different names all apply. The Before I got side-tracked by the botanical perceived differences probably being due to intrigue this note was intended to be about differences in cultivation, especially light cultivar names for Hyotelephium sieboldii. intensity. In fact, exactly how 'Medio- The earliest cultivars to be distinguished pictum' differed from 'Medio-variegatum' were variegated plants. And the earliest remains unclear, but the 1992 RHS New name published in the West was that Dictionary (2: 616) describes two clones: accompanying the illustration in 'Medio-pictum' - ‘leaves yellow with white L’Illustration Horticole 10: t. 373 (1863) centre’ and 'Variegatum' - ‘leaves glaucous var. Foliis Medio-variegatis, which would blue, marbled cream’, which differences now be treated as a cultivar epithet. It may simply be due to cultivation applies to a plant with leaves that are yellow conditions. in the centre and green towards the margins on either side. The relative width of the There are all sorts of variations on these green stripes and yellow centre is very names. For example, Jacobsen, Handbk variable and seems to depend partly on Succ. Pl. 2: 755 (1960), ‘S. sieboldii var. growing conditions. This is the same plant variegatis Hort. Leaves with yellowish- commonly seen in cultivation today, but the white spots’, becomes in the later Lexicon name has been adapted often appearing as of Succ. Pl. (1974: 354) “cv. Variegatum. 'Mediovariegatum' or 'Medio-variegatum'. Leaves with yellowish-white blotches.” Of the many works that illustrate what appears Regarding the adoption of Latin cultivar to be the sole variegated clone, very few use epithets, the ICNCP Art. 21.6 Ex. 13. the then earliest available name. An (2016) provides the following guidance. exception is Sajeva & Costanzo (1974) Weigela floribunda foliis purpureis Succulents the illustrated dictionary: 205, published by Carrière in 1921, becomes the which depicts a plant called 'Foliis Medio- cultivar name, Weigela floribunda 'Foliis variegatis' with leaves glaucous green with Purpureis'. Following this precedent, the a wide central band (variously disrupted) of name for this variegated Hylotelephium creamy yellow and a thin red margin. would become, Hylotelephium sieboldii However, all this activity in Europe 'Foliis Medio-variegatis'. There is no overlooked … provision under the ICNCP to modify this epithet to read 'Mediovariegatum' or Earlier Japanese names anything else. A vernacular name Misebaya for the typical The very next year, 1864, saw two more non-variegated Hylotelephium sieboldii names added, both of which were for plants first appeared during the Edo Period (1603- 1868) in Shokin-ban’eki-shū in 1717. 93

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There was a custom in the Edo Period of published. Sōmoku-nishikiba-shū is an deriving cultivar epithets from well-known illustrated encyclopaedia in seven volumes poems and other literary works; the name of the variegated cultivars that were then so Misebaya is an example of this practice. important to collectors. It is written by one Literally meaning ‘to whom shall I show of them, Tadatoshi Mizuno, a highly these leaves?’ The poetical name Misebaya educated and botanically astute, high- indicates that the plant in question is ranking samurai (samurai was equivalent unusual in some respect, to be valued and nobility to an English Lord) whose social displayed. By the 1820s, however, we find position afforded him access to the most Misebaya used as a vernacular name for prized plants, among them, those grown by typical, non-variegated H. sieboldii. To this the shogun (Head of state). In the volume day, Misebaya was and is applied to of this work that is titled Okan (an appendix H. sieboldii regardless of whether it is of descriptions), Mizuno states that there is plain-leaved or variegated. It is only ever a Misebaya that is nakafu that is a cultivar applied to H. sieboldii and not to other of Hylotelephium sieboldii with leaves that Hylotelephium or Sedum species, the are nakafu, meaning ‘with a central zone of generic vernacular name of which is variegation’. The pages of this volume are Benkei-so. However, Professor Takayuki unnumbered, and the relevant text is in Tanaka has suggested that Misebaya may columns 7 and 8 from the left margin originally have referred only to the (Japanese is read from right to left, so the variegated plant and thus have been a text starts at column 8) (See Figure 9). The prototypical cultivar epithet. It is worth text reads: ‘Leaves with variegated centres bearing in mind that, at first, only the are called nakafu, also nakaoshihe. In such variegated ornamental may have been at all plants, the centre of the leaf is paler than the widely known and grown, as in the wild, rest. [There are] nakafu of [Hylotelephium H. sieboldii is rare and highly localised in erythrostictum, Hoya carnosa and distribution. Hylotelephium sieboldii], these are very Another vernacular name for this rare.’ species is Tama-no-o, which means ‘string Our research shows that just one clone of gems’, a reference to the shape and jade- of this kind was known in Japan, and that like appearance of the leaves and their continues to be the case. Therefore, as far arrangement on the stem, which appeared in as Hylotelephium sieboldii is concerned, Koryū-ikebana-hyakubinzu Vol. 4 in 1778. nakafu is not a group or gei designation, but Context tells us that this was a vernacular applied to only to this solitary cultivar. name for the typical plant. Odd though it There is no doubt that the may seem to Westerners, to learned Edo ‘Mediovariegatum’ in Japanese and Japanese, the name ‘to whom shall I show Western cultivation today is identical to the these leaves?’ would have indicated value plant introduced from Japan by Siebold and and uniqueness more than the name ‘string described by Lemaire in 1863, and that this of gems’. is the same as Samurai Mizuno’s In 1829, one of the most important Misebaya-nakafu (1829). Note that foliis- printed works on Japanese horticulture was 94

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foliis medio-variegatis or later still ‘Mediovariegatum’. On the grounds of priority and because of its unambiguous application it is argued that the Japanese cultivar epithet be adopted. Hence the 'Misebaya-nakafu', as originally published by Samurai Mizuno in 1829 in one of the great works of traditional Japanese horticulture is the correct cultivar epithet for the variegated clone of H. sieboldii. Other Cultivars. Interestingly Hirose & Yokoi, Variegated plants in color (1998: 260) shows a colour image of a then unnamed cultivar in Japan, with the reverse pattern of variegation, a green centred leaf with white to pale yellow margin. More recently named cultivars include: 'Dragon' is a cultivar marketed in the last year or so by Thompson & Morgan of Ipswich. It originated in Japan and has Figure 9. glaucous green leaves with a narrow wine- medio-variegatis and ‘Mediovariegatum’ red edge. mean the exact same thing as nakafu. 'October Daphne' appears to be a cultivar Whether Lemaire knew this, we cannot tell, name for a form of H. sieboldii that but it is likely that Siebold, well-versed in produces a thin shoot from the axillary bud Japanese, would have been aware of the at the base of each leaf. As the leaves are native name of one of his most valued new usually arranged in whorls of three this acquisitions. makes for an interesting effect, with three ICNCP Articles 21.20 and 21.21 (9th thin, symmetrically arranged leaf bearing ed., 2016), require that the vernacular name branches from each whorl along most of the of a genus or the part that refers to the genus stem length. should be removed from a cultivar epithet, Acknowledgements. whereas the vernacular name of the species Piecing together this kind of story is only to which the cultivar is attributed may be accomplished with the help of many other retained. That would result in the form researchers. For much generous help with ‘Misebaya-nakafu’, since Misebaya refers earlier Japanese names, I am very grateful uniquely to H. sieboldii. Thus, there is an to the following: Yoko Otsuki, FLS, earlier Japanese name for this cultivar that Oxford; Professor Emeritus Dr Takayuki was established in a well-known printed Tanaka of Tokai University; Professor source some 34 years before it was styled Emeritus Dr Takashi Hosoki of Shimane 95

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University; Dr Kōichirō Aoki, Head of the Vjačeslav Byalt, Russian Academy of City Forestry Research Centre; Dr Dai Sciences; Rafael Govaerts, Senior editor Hamazaki, researcher and author; Dr Mats WCSP, Kew; and Roy Mottram, author and Hjertson, Curator (vascular plants), researcher, UK, for kindly reviewing an Uppsala University Herbarium, Dr earlier draft and suggesting improvements.

The puzzle of Hylotelephium sieboldii solved. Botanique Japonaise: Livres Kwa-Wi (Paris, 1875) is a translation by [Paul Amedée] Ludovic Savatier and M. Saba of a work that Savatier calls ‘Kwa-Wi’; he gives the name of its author as ‘Yonan Si’. Savatier’s transliteration of Japanese was idiosyncratic, to put it kindly. Transliterated into Roman characters the modern way, the actual title of this work is Kai. It is a multi-volume, multi-authored, illustrated encyclopaedia of Japanese plants. The first volume was compiled by Yōnan Shimada (Savatier’s ‘Yonan Si’) and published in 1759. There follows a scholarly response from Yoko Otsuki on the Japanese herbal book translated into French that Roy Mottram alerted us to when preparing the previous paper. The image Figure 10 represents Sedum Romans. In all these cases, sieboldii. The text also fits this species misidentifications – call them Chinese except in saying that the flowers are tan’ō - whispers - were common. pale yellow. Translated as ‘jaune clair’ by Here, Yōnan is giving an account of Savatier, it was this anomaly that prompted Sedum sieboldii, but he is conflating it with your query. The names that Yōnan gives S. aizoon. I imagine he did this because the for this plant are - Hisai (費菜), Misebaya latter was familiar from China’s medicinal and Tama-no-o. He treats Hisai (費菜) as flora, whereas the former (S. sieboldii) the main name and the other two as appears to have been little-known in Japan subordinate to, and synonymous with it. at this stage, although native. Probably, This name Hisai is the cause of the trouble. Yōnan’s idea in lumping them was that the It is the Chinese name for Sedum two had the same alleged properties. But it [Phedimus] aizoon, which, of course, is is also possible that he regarded them as one indeed yellow-flowered. and the same, broad species. The reason for this muddle is an Now, Yōnan’s description of the plant academic practice of traditional Japanese conforms to S. sieboldii in all respects apart herbalists. For many of them, the great from his statement that the flowers are pale model was China. They would try to yellow. However, he also says that, in some identify Japan’s native plants by relating or plants, usu no beni no hana, meaning ‘the comparing them to Chinese flora, which flowers [are] pale crimson’. To the was seen as the classical or canonical Japanese, this colour, usu beni, is a pale corpus. In much the same way, Roman purple-pink or very light magenta. It does botanists interpreted and adapted the not mean rouge – red – as Savatier and Saba Greeks, and Renaissance botanists translated it. Usu beni accurately describes interpreted and adapted the Greeks and the the flowers of Sedum sieboldii. 96

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Figure 10. Yōnan Shimada (1759), Kai (description and image of Hisai/Misebaya/Tama-no-o). As I mentioned above, Hisai (費菜), you, namely Misebaya and Tama-no-o which is effectively Yōnan’s chapter (transliterated by Savatier and Saba as heading, is the traditional Chinese name for ‘Misse baia’ and ‘Tama noou’). These Sedum aizoon (presumably, it would have names, as explained before, apply strictly to been thought applicable to the very similar Sedum sieboldii. We have not found them S. kamtschaticum, too). Subsequently, used for other Sedum species. these two species became known by the To sum up, Yōnan in Kai (1759) Japanese names Hosoba-no-kirin-sō and describes a plant that is evidently Sedum Kirin-sō respectively. sieboldii apart from his statement that its Apart from this passage in Yōnan, no flowers are pale yellow (or pale purple-pink such yellow-flowered species appears to in some plants). The illustration is of have been confused with S. sieboldii in S. sieboldii. Two of the names that he gives Japan’s vernacular tradition. The Japanese to Sedum aizoon come from the Chinese names that Yōnan gives for this plant are herbal tradition. Yōnan, it appears, wished the two that I’ve already communicated to

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Figure 11. L. Savatier (1875), Botanique Japonaise: Livres Kwa-Wi (p.28). to identify the subject of this chapter with chapter is interesting in describing a plain- S. aizoon (hence Chinese name and yellow leaved form at a fairly early date, and in flowers). However, the image and Japanese giving a distribution for it that differs from names pertain to S. sieboldii and so does all the very localised one mentioned by Ohwi. of the description apart from the mention of Many of us suspect that S. sieboldii was yellow flowers, which is in any case offset more widespread in earlier times and that it by the mention of pale purple-pink flowers. may have been collected to the point of If Yōnan was trying to combine accounts of extinction – perhaps, we might now dare to two species, he made a poor job of it: this speculate, because someone had identified account, overwhelmingly, favours Sedum it with medicinal Hisai. sieboldii. As a treatment of S. sieboldii, this

Nomenclatural Summary by Roy Mottram. Hylotelephium sieboldii (Regel) H.Ohba, Bot Mag. (Tokyo) 90(1017): 52. 1977. Basionym: Sedum sieboldii Regel, Index Seminum hort. Petropol. 1856: 51. Synonym: Sedum sieboldii G. Don ex Hooker, Bot Mag 89: t5358. 1863. Nom. nud. Sedum sieboldtii hort nom. Nud., Slam-Dyck, Index plantarum succulentum in horto Dyckensi cultarum. Anno 184x: 65. 1843 [but this name was created 2 years earlier by Fisch & al. (1841) which thus has priority.] var. sieboldii Synonym: Sedum sieboldii var. erectum Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 15: 144. 1901. var. chinense H.Ohba, J. Jap. Bot. 67(4): 199. 1992. var. ettyuense (Tomida) H.Ohba, J. Jap. Bot. 56(6): 186. 1981. Basionym: Sedum ettyuense Tomida, J. Jap. Bot. 48(5): 140. 1973. Synonym: Hylotelephium ettyuense (Tomida) H.Ohba, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 90(1017): 50. 1977.

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Hylotelephium sieboldii – miscellany Ray Stephenson adds some notes on horticulture and subspecies.

Figure 12. Plant in cultivation in the 1980s purporting to be Sedum kagamontanum.

Although the taxonomic mysteries of of contradiction that they are both fully Hylotelephium sieboldii have been well hardy. Why then, over the years have and truly solved by the team responsible for growers said to me (especially of the the previous papers, one horticultural variegated form) “Winter killed it”. I think mystery remains unsolved. Last season I the far more likely scenario is that it has placed a well-grown pot of this species on a been the victim of molluscs. raised bed and before retiring each night I Interestingly, the variegated form inspected it after noticing leaf-nibbles. reverts very easily and if non-variegated Every evening over a period of a month or shoots are not removed, they quickly so I removed slugs from the plant – outgrow the variegated growth. Indoor sometimes as many as 8 per evening. No grown plants are a lot bluer and less other adjacent plants seemed to attract slugs compact than those battling with the like this species. I have another plant which elements. Outdoor plants tend to tinge red I grow on top of a Victorian chimney pot on the leaf extremities, a feature not and ‘sherpa’ slugs are attracted to it even duplicated by indoor plants. Any stems though it is more than a metre above a removed root very quickly – it is extremely pavement. easy to propagate. Its most attractive I first encountered both the normal and feature is that it is a very late flowerer – variegated forms as a child, invariably often into December when the reddening grown as an indoor window-sill plant. I foliage adds to the attraction (Figure 13). have grown both forms outdoors for more In 1973, Tomida described a new than half a century and can say without fear species of Sedum – S, ettyuense from the 99

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Prefecture of Tomaya (Honshu – near the Sedum ettyuense but Eggli et al in N-facing coast opposite Tokyo). It looked Illustrated handbook of succulent plants - like a strong form of Hylotelephium Crassulaceae (2001) tentatively placed sieboldii. It was distributed by a Dutch S. kagamontanum as a synonym of nursery as Sedum kagamontanum (Figure Hylotelephium sieboldii var. ettyuense. 12) and was an excellent match for They also listed H. sieboldii var. chinense Toyama’s photographs – highly floriferous as the name suggests hailing from Hubei in with large almost spheroid inflorescences. China – a very disjunct habitat! My plant disappeared one winter though I REFERENCE do not suspect the weather as the guilty factor. Tomida, 1973. A new Sedum from Pref. Toyama (Sedum ettyuense) 138-141 & Makino’s Newly revised illustrated plate 3 now available on line. flora of Japan (2000) ignored Tomida’s

Figure 13. Hylotelephium telephium December 2nd. If winter starts in a mild way, Hylotelephium sieboldii can retain its foliage into December when it turns a most attractive shade.

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Book Review: The Tian Shan and its flowers. Pascal Raes.

This magnificent book is written by Vojtěch Holubec (famous for The Caucasus and its flowers) and David Horák. The Tian Shan is a mountain area of Central Asia covering Figures 13a,b.c give some idea of the parts of China and the former Soviet Union. quality of this 2.18kg tome of high There are chapters on history of botanic quality photographic paper. (€50 plus research, orography, geology, climate, postage.) vegetation and of course plants. The R. gelida, R. recticaulis, R. linearifolia, emphasis is on alpine plants. Each entry R. kirilowii, R. kashgarica and gets a description, notes on cultivation and R. pamiroalaica, Sedum hybridum/ a photo often showing the growing Phedimus hybridus. 400 pages and conditions and the surrounding landscape countless colour photographs. It's the most as well. For our interests we have beautiful book in my collection. Orostachys spinosa and O. thyrsiflora, V. Holubec has an interesting seed list of Hylotelephium ewersii, Pseudosedum unusual plants as well. He may be contacted lievenii and P. longidentatum, at [email protected] or alpestris and R. platyphylla, Rhodiola www.holubec.wbs.cz. semenovii, R. coccinea, R. quadrifida

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Book Review: Illustrated field guide to the Flora of Georgia by Fischer, Gröger & Lobin. Julian Shaw In 830 pages, more than 1200 species are illustrated, usually by several photographs each, resulting in coverage of about 30% of the recorded 4130 species from Georgia. It focuses on the Southern Caucasus and has taken over 20 years to compile. The book is designed as a field guide but at 1∙24kg one feels its presence, and one suspects the thin card paperback covers will not last in a rucksack. However, it is very well presented, and photographic reproduction is generally crisp. There is an interesting mixture of taxonomic approaches reflecting the state of a science on the cusp of changes wrought by molecular studies, contrasting with the narrow concepts used in Flora USSR. For example, while Cannabis sativa is represented by C. ruderalis, Jacobaea is separated from Senecio, and even Iranecio makes an appearance. The daisy family is by far the largest component of the Georgian flora with 566 species recorded, 132 of which are endemic. One also encounters familiar garden plants in their home setting, such as Brunnera macrophylla. Figure 14. £30 + postage. But what is in it for the Crassulaceae The guide usefully covers an area enthusiast? Pages 473-480 depict 14 sandwiched between the Davis, 10 volume species. Prometheum is represented by Flora of Turkey (1965-1988) region, and P. pilosum and the stunning Russia, for which only an English P. sempervivoides. Sedum is included translation of Komarov’s 30 volume Flora in a broad sense, S. acre, S. album, of the USSR (1931-1964) was available to S. hispanicum, S. involucratum, the non-Russian speaker, until this and S. pallidum, S. spurium, S. stoloniferum and another useful guide (Shetekauri & Jacoby, S. tenellum. Phedimus is not mentioned, Mountain flowers and trees of Caucasia, whereas Hylotelephium caucasicum is 1ed. 2009*; 2ed. 2018) have appeared. accepted. Sempervivum features

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NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019

S. caucasicum, S. ermanicum, S. pumilum, Umbilicus oppositifolius. Prometheum and S. transcaucasicum. pilosum is represented by two images, one In a nutshell –a beautifully produced captioned Sempervivum pumilum, and the and accurate book which is a visual delight. other Pseudorosularia pilosa. It’s hard to *The 1st edition included single photos of identify the image captioned Sedum acre, hispanicum, spurium, Pseudorosularia sempervivoides, perhaps it stevenianum, tenellum, Sempervivum is Sempervivum ermanicum? caucasicum, transcaucasicum, and

Greek flora on line (greekflora.gr) – an appraisal. Ray Stephenson makes a critical review of the official site. Greek flora on line (greekflora.gr) is a and S. cepaea. Sedum aetnense is missing. worthwhile site but it is somewhat flawed. Sedum tristriatum is well illustrated. They have posted 3 photographs purporting Sedum magellense, S. dasyphyllum S. stefco to be Sedum apoleipon. The first is most and S. caespitosum are well represented. definitely S. urvillei. The second is mostly The photographs of S. hispanicum are good. Petrosedum ochroleucum and the third Sedum creticum, S. confertiflorum and mostly Sedum album. Sedum acre has the S. atratum are very well illustrated. largest number of photographs. The Petrosedum ochroleucum and photographs depicting S. litoreum are P. sediforme are correctly identified. useful but the single photograph of Petrosedum amplexicaule subsp. S. grisebachii shows a well-spent plant at a tenuifolium is illustrated well. distance at the end of its flowering period, so is less so. Although common in Greece, Phedimus stellatus is well represented, S. annuum is missing altogether. there is a decent set of photos of Interestingly a plant of S. annuum is shown Hylotelephium telephium, and the images of as S. urvillei. Sedum laconicum is well Prometheum tymphaeum are good. Oddly depicted but one photograph = S. litoreum. 2 of the plants alleging to be Rosularia Two photographs captioned Sedum serrata look hirsute and are probably tuberiferum depict S. urvillei. The site R. globulariifolium. includes S. praesidis which is the Cretan Sempervivum marmoreum, and variety of S. litoreum, and S. alpestre var. S. ciliosum are present but not erythraeum. Sedum samium is a yellow- S. thompsonianum or S. zeleborii. flowered species but 4 photographs here heuffelii is well illustrated. show a subspecies of S. eriocarpum (white There are maps declaring some sites, but flowers). The most flawed section of this they are far from complete, especially if you group is with the misidentification of plan to visit any of the Greek islands other S. urvillei where one depiction is actually than Crete. Never-the-less – it is S. acre, one is S. apoleipon and one is worthwhile visiting this site if you plan a S. annuum. trip to mainland Greece. Four subspecies of Sedum eriocarpum are depicted well, as is S. rubens, S. album, 103

NUMBER 130 SEDUM SOCIETY NEWSLETTER JULY 2019

Contents of this Newsletter

79. Phedimus deemed invasive in Germany. 80. Indumentum of Petrosedum (photo of contrasting P. amplexicaule plants) by Ray Stephenson. 81. Kalanchoe arborescens – a Madagascan giant, by Colin C. Walker. 84. Sedum hunting in Montenegro's lowlands, (photographs of a cristate Petrosedum ochroleucum, Sedum dasyphyllum and S. cepaea) by Pascal Raes. 86. Research on the name Sedum hispanicum L. 1755 var. eriocarpum (Guss.) Boiss., by Massimo Afferni. 88. Hylotelephium sieboldii (Sedum sieboldii) – introduction, typification, and cultivars, by Julian Shaw. 96. The puzzle of Hylotelephium sieboldii solved by Yoko Otsuki. 98. Nomenclatural Summary of Hylotelephium sieboldii by Roy Mottram. 99. Hylotelephium sieboldii – miscellany, by Ray Stephenson. 101. Book Review: The Tian Shan and its flowers, by Pascal Raes. 102. Book Review: Illustrated field guide to the Flora of Georgia by Fischer, Gröger & Lobin, by Julian Shaw. 103. Greek flora on line (greekflora.gr) – an appraisal, by Ray Stephenson.

Current Notices

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Edited, printed & collated by Ray Stephenson for the Sedum Society. 104