HEN-AND-CHICKENS.
Cotyledon Californicum, Trelease. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.
(For flower structure, see Cotyledon lanceolata.) Hab.—Central California.
The word "cotyledon" signifies any cup-shaped hollow or cavity, and has been applied to the plants of this genus on account of the manner of growth of the leaves, which is usually in a hollow rosette. The fleshy leaves are often covered with a bloom or a floury powder. These plants are familiar to most of us, as some of the species are extensively cultivated in our gardens as border-plants. Owing to their habit of producing a circle of young plants around the parent, they are commonly called "hen-and-chickens." We have several native species, which are usually found upon warm, rocky hill-slopes, or upon rocks near the sea.
C. Californicum is a beautiful form, with pointed, ovate leaves, of a light glaucous green, often tinged with pink. Its flowers are yellow, and have their petals distinct almost to the base, and its carpels are distinct. We are told that the Indians make soothing poultices of these leaves.
[HEN-AND-CHICKENS—Cotyledon Californicum.]
![[HEN-AND-CHICKENS—Cotyledon Californicum.]](#3624944100741987669_f049.png.id-3460996673605607883.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
Another species—C. pulverulenta, Benth. and Hook.,—found from Santa Barbara to San Diego, is a very beautiful plant. It bears its leaves in a symmetrical rosette, like a diminutive century-plant. These leaves are usually covered with a dense white bloom, and the outer ones are spatulate, abruptly pointed, and two to four inches broad at the tip, while the inner are pointed. The plants are sometimes a foot and a half across, and send up as many as eight of the leafy flowering stems, which look like many-storied, slender Chinese pagodas. The blossoms are pale-red.