ANGLICUM Hudson, 1778

Synonyms :

Sedum anglicum var. hibernicum Don (s.a.)

Sedum anglicum var. microphyllum Don (s.a.)

Sedum oblongum Haworth (1812)

Sedum anglicum var. raji Lange (1857)

Sedum hudsonianum Lange (1857) / Sedum anglicum var. hudsonianum (Lange) Willkomm (s.a.)

Sedum pyrenaicum Lange (1857) / Sedum anglicum var. pyrenaicum (Lange) Sampaio (1947) / Sedum anglicum ssp. pyrenaicum (Lange) Laínz (1963)

Sedum anglicum var. minus Praeger (1921)

Distribution : Atlantic parts of western Europe, from Portugal to Great Britain and Ireland to southern Scandinavia.

Description (according to IHSP 2003) :

Glabrous perennial herbs with trailing and routing much-branched shoots forming dense mats or tufts, often reddish.

Leaves alternate, loosely imbricate, sessile with a short spur, ovoid to subglobose, 2 - 10 x 2,5 - 4,5 mm, obtuse, dark green (to blue-green), sometimes reddish.

Inflorescence : flowering branches ascending, usually simple, to 12 cm tall, inflorescences cymes with (1-) 2 (- 4) usually simple cincinni, bracts 2 per flower, pedicel 0,5 - 1,5 mm.

Flowers  5-merous, sepals basally free, spurred, unequal, elliptic, 1,5 - 5 mm, obtuse, petals free, oblong-lanceolate, 3,5 - 9 mm, acute-acuminate, white and often tinged red, filaments white, anthers red.

Cytology : 2n=24, 24-36, 48, 120, ± 144.

To include S. melanantherum here is incorrect. S. anglicum belongs to the comparium of series Anglica 't Hart".

Note :

Ray Stephenson writes (Sedum, Cultivated Stonecrops, 1994, p. 105) : "The best proof of identification is the free nature of the succulent, uneven sepals with spurs - a unique characteristic among white-flowered European Sedum species"

Stephenson précise : "S. anglicum... is unlikely to survive in areas with temperature of over 25°C for several consecutive weeks" et, de fait, il est impossible de cultiver ce Sedum dans la région de Marseille (France) où la temperature dépasse les 30°C  en été.

See also S. farinosum and S. arenarium.

S. anglicum pyrenaicum is high altitude growing near the top of the Serra Estrella.

Observation au Domaine du Dourven, commune de Trédrez-Locquémeau (Côtes-d'Armor - France) - 5 août 2012

La plante est verte quand elle court sur l'herbe et la lande, sous les arbres, au milieu de la mousse et de la bruyère.
Elle se colore en rouge sur le versant terreux (face à la mer, en plein vent, orienté sud-ouest), ou dans une fente de rocher.