Authors: L.  

Botanical Description

to 30 by 5cm or more. Leaves triangular-ovoid, thick and fleshy, 4-5mm long, light green. Flowers in small cymes, bright yellow, up to 1cm wide, usually in abundance. Europe, western Asia, North Africa, in dry grassland, sand-dunes, shingle, walls and rocks. A very variable species in habit, size, shape and density of leaves and flowers. Chromosomes races (i.e. triploid, pentaploid and hexaploid) are also common, but rarely visually distinct though often less vigorous than the basic diploid. S.a. 'Aureum' syn. 'Variegatum' of gardens, has the young shoots yellow tipped while 'Elegans' has a silvery-cream suffusion for much of the year. 'Cristatum' is a fasciated form which is reluctant to flower and difficult to maintain. S.a. var. major (syn. S. maweanum) is more robust with very densely arranged leaves up to 9mm long. is162 S.a. var. minus is a tiny variant with leaves about 2mm long. S.a. subsp. neglectum var. sopianae is recently described from Hungary and appears to be close to S. sexangulare. 'Yellow Queen' is a cultivated diploid with large flowers. [Pl.457].

a, S. acre; b, S. anacampseros; c, S. anglicum; d, S. dasyphyllum; e, S. ewersii; f, S. reflexum; g, S. villosum;