Sedum telephium Linnaeus
Hylotelephium telephium (Linnaeus) Ohba
orpine, live-long
northern temperate zone
(Folk credentials questionable) Primarily a divinatory as a folk herb,Sedum
telephium seems likely to have owed its medicinal uses in the British Isles en-
tirely to the learned tradition of the books. Once widely grown in cottage
gardens in England and southern Scotland as a wound plant (under the name
‘orpies’ or ‘orpy-leaves’),^53 its recommendation to James Robertson in 1767
by a gardener in the remoteness of
Sutherland as a remedy for the
bite of a mad dog or an adder^54 is
the closest to a hint of an alterna-
tive origin that has been discov-
ered. In so far as the species can be
considered a member of the native
flora—and that only in Britain—
it has probably always been too
scarce to be drawn on in the wild
for cures.
Sedum acre Linnaeus
biting stonecrop, wall pepper
Europe, north and western
Asia, North Africa;
introduced into North
America, Australasia
The juice ofSedum acre has been
more recently used in Norfolk to
treat dermatitis^55 and has served
in the past in Cardiganshire as an
ointment for shingles.^56
In Ireland a decoction of a
plant known simply as stonecrop
(a name which could apply to sev-
eral species), said to grow on walls
in one case and on thatched roofs
in another, has been recorded
from Cavan,^57 Leitrim^58 and Wex-
138 Sedum telephium
Sedum acre, biting stonecrop
(Bock 1556, p. 143)