Biting stonecrop

 

Biting stonecrop (Sedum acre) is a low-growing succulent plant that grows throughout Great Britain on chalk and limestone grassland, shingle, dunes and walls. It is the smallest of the British yellow stonecrops, forming a golden yellow carpet of star-like flowers during the summer.

The plant’s numerous creeping stems form mats, from which upright flowering and non-flowering stems grow to a height of up to 4 inches (10 cm). The leaves are fleshy and swollen, the young ones tipped with crimson. Bright yellow flowers, which appear in June and July, grow in branched clusters. Fruits, yellowish when young, spread apart and turn brown.

Biting stonecrop has the alternative name of wall-pepper, from its peppery-tasting leaves. The plant was once considered an excellent medicine for the cure of various ailments. It was believed to stop bleeding, ease ulcers and prevent fevers. However, it had to be used with care because its juice could induce vomiting.

There was even a superstition that if biting stonecrop was planted on the roofs of houses it would ward off thunderstorms!

© John Welford