Sedum

SEDUM, in botany, a genus of the family Crassulaceae, con taining about 150 species, natives chiefly of the north temperate and frigid regions, and mostly perennial herbs with succulent leaves of varied form, but never compound. The white or yellow, rarely pink or blue, flowers are usually small and grouped in cymes. They have a calyx of five sepals, as many petals, usually ten stamens and five distinct carpels, which have as many glands at their base and ripen into as many dry seed-pods. Several species are British, including some with tuberous roots and large leaves (S. Telephium), and others of smaller size, chiefly found on rocks, walls and dry banks; S. acre is stonecrop, well known also in gardens, a variety of which, aureum, is in cultivation with golden-yellow tips to the leaves and shoots. Upwards of 3o species are native to North America, widely distributed across the continent. In addition, the Old World S. Telephium and S. acre

have become widely naturalized in the eastern States and Canada. Many species are cultivated for the beauty of their foliage or flowers, and many are remarkable for their vitality under adverse circumstances. They succeed on rockwork, old walls or as border plants ; some, e.g., S. Lydium, a native of Asia Minor, are excellent for carpet bedding. S. spectabile, 1 to LI- ft., with pink flowers in great cymose heads, is a fine plant for the borders.

SEE,

a seat or throne, particularly the throne of a bishop, the cathedra, the symbol of his office and dignity, the placing of which in a church makes it a cathedral (q.v.). The term is thus applied to the place where the bishop's cathedral is situated and from which he properly takes his title, and so is to be distinguished from diocese (q.v.), the territorial province over which his juris diction extends (see BISHOP).