FORSTERIANUM  (Sm.) Grulich, 1984

Synonyms :

Sedum forsterianum  Smith (1802) / Sedum rupestre ssp. forsterianum  (Smith) R.L.Evans (1983) nom. inval. 

Sedum elegans  Lejeune (1811) / Sedum rupestre ssp. elegans  (Lejeune) Hegi & Em.Schmid (1922) / Petrosedum rupestre ssp. elegans  (Lejeune) Velayos (1989)

Sedum aureum Wirtgen ex Schultz (1844) / Sedum reflexum var. aureum  (Schultz) H.Jacobsen (1973)

Sedum lejeunianum  Hornung ex W.D.J.Koch (1857)

Sedum trevirense  Rosbach (1857)

Sedum juranum  Gay (1863)

Type : Anonymus s.n., England  (Wales).

Etymology : Named for Edward Forster (1765 - 1849), English botanist.

Distribution : W Europe. Type locality: U.K.,  Wales, Cardiganshire, at the Rhydoll Falls, near the Devil's Bridge.

Description (by 't Hart) :

Perennial plants.

Non-flowering shoots procumbent, much branched, trailing and rooting, densely leafy, with the leaves in dense rosette-like cones at the tips of the shoots.

Leaves green or glaucous, semiterete, linear-elliptic, 1 – 1.5 cm long, apiculate, with a short truncate spur at the base, dead leaves sometimes persistent, dark brown or black.

Flowering shoots usually simple, 10 – 40 cm long, with less crowded somewhat larger leaves, glabrous.

Inflorescence a corymb with 4 (3 – 8) scorpioid branches, globose and drooping in bud, erect and concave in flower and fruit.

Flowers 6 (5–8)-merous, usually all without bracts, sepals glabrous, triangular, about 2.5 mm long, acute, petals yellow, lanceolate-elliptic, up to about 8 mm long, patent during anthesis, filaments yellow, glabrous, carpels brown and erect or somewhat spreading in fruit, seeds ovoid, light-brown.

Cytology : 2n = 48, 60, 72, 96.

Close to and most frequently confused with Petrosedum rupestre which is distinguished in having terete leaves, reflexed at their base, not persisting, and not crowded towards the stem apices; the inflorescence is smaller with only 3-5 branches.