ORPINE FAMILY (Crassulaceae)
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.