Biting Stonecrop
Sedum acre
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A mat of gold on a wall top in June — and the leaves are peppery enough to sting the tongue.
A low, mat-forming succulent with tiny, fat, overlapping yellow-green leaves crowded along creeping stems, smothered in bright golden-yellow star-shaped flowers in early summer. Biting stonecrop grows on wall tops, gravel, dunes, shingle, old roofs and thin dry soils around Dumfries, in places nothing else will hold.
Behaviour
The fleshy leaves store water, and the plant uses a water-saving form of photosynthesis that takes in carbon dioxide at night — so it can live on bare stone in full sun. The 'biting' is literal: the leaves contain compounds that leave a sharp peppery burn on the tongue. Broken-off shoots root readily, so it spreads easily along a wall.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Stonecrops (Crassulaceae)
- Height
- 2–10 cm, mat-forming
- Status
- Native; common on walls, gravel and dunes
Photo by Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons