[Illustration: PRAIRIE STONECROP]
Usually succulent herbs; leaves opposite or alternate; sepals 4-5;
petals 4-5; stamens 5 or 10; carpels 4-5, free.
Prairie or Nuttall’s Stonecrop (_Sedum nuttallianum_) is an annual with
forking branches covered with small yellow star-like flowers. The
succulent leaves are short and rounded. The sedums are characterized by
4-5 sepals and petals, 8-10 stamens, and 4-5 small spreading seedcases.
The prairie stonecrop grows in dry, open places from Missouri to Texas
and blooms from April to June. It makes an excellent carpeting plant
when used in sunny places.
The stonecrop belongs to a large group of plants, including live-forever
and many other cultivated favorites, most of which are used for
rockeries. Wright’s stonecrop (_Sedum wrightii_) is a white-flowered
plant, very much like the prairie stonecrop, found in the mountains in
the western part of the state, New Mexico, and Mexico. Sedum is from the
Latin meaning “to sit” and refers to the low growth habit. In the same
family are included the house-leeks, some of which are known as
hen-and-chickens, or old-man-and-woman, because of the detached
offshoots which form new plants.