Order Lxxiii
GROSSULACEE.
Distinguished from the last by the definite number of their stamens and woody leafy stems. The utility and excellence of the gooseberry and currant are known to every one. None of the other species equal these, although the fruit of several possesses considerable excellence. The berry of most of these is sweet, watery, and acid, but that of Ribes nigrum, and a few more, is tonic and stimulant, which appears to have some connection with the presence of glands upon the leaves of those species. 550 Ríbes W.
ORDER LXXIV.
SEMPERVIVEÆ.
Still another order of succulent plants, but with a habit very different from that of those which have gone before. The species are often characterised by the rosulate or densely imbricated arrangement of their leaves, but this is not by any means a universal character. They are natives, for the most part, of dry barren places in Europe, North Africa, and the Cape of Good Hope, and are cultivable with ease in pots of dry rubbish. Many of them have extremely beautiful flowers, especially those of the genera Sempervivum and Crassula, which are either white, yellow, or deep rose color. Their leaves are used medicinally as refrigerant and abstergent; they are also, in a slight degree, astringent, and in Sédum ácre so acrid, that, taken internally, NATURAL ARRANGEMENT. they operate violently both as purgatives and emetics. The leaves of Sédum teléphium are occasionally eaten as a vegetable, but they are always found to leave behind a slight and unpleasant taste of burning 1061 Sédum W. 1110 Sempervivum W. 1060 Cotylédon W. 927 Vérea W. 698 Róchea Dec. 928 Bryophyllum Sal. 874 Séptas W. 1062 Penthórum W. 699 Crássula W. 320 Tillæ'a W.