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Botanical  Name: Sedum telephium
Family: N.O. Crassulaceae

Synonyms: Live Long. Life Everlasting.
(French) Herbe aux charpentiers.
Other Names: Hylotelephium telephium,  Orpine, Livelong, Frog’s-stomach, Harping Johnny, Life-everlasting, Live-forever, Midsummer-men, Orphan John, Witch’s Moneybags.
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Saxifragales
Genus: Hylotelephium
Species: H. telephium

Parts Used:  Whole plant, leaves.

Habitat: Native to Eurasia.Europe, incl Britain, south and east from Scandanavia to the Pyrenees, temperate Asia, N. America. The Orpine, the largest British species of this genus, is readily distinguished from most of the other plants allied to it by its large, broad, flattened leaves and terminal heads of pinkish flowers, being the only British species with flat leaves. Grows in hedge banks and the shady sides of damp woods.

It has a wide distribution: in warmer countries it is a mountain plant. Lindley gives its true habitat as mountainous woods, and Cesalpinus, an early Italian botanist, calls it Crassula montana, but in this country it grows freely in lower situations. It is probable that it was originally an introduced plant, though it is now not uncommonly found in hedgebanks on shady sides of fields and in woods, though probably escaped from cultivation in many of its localities. In its wild state, the plant’ is from 1 to 2 feet high, though in gardens it may attain as much as 3 feet.

Description:It is a succulent perennial plant.
The root-stock is perennial, large and fleshy, producing small parsnip-shaped tubers, with a whitish-grey rind, containing a considerable store of nourishment. The stalks are numerous, erect, unbranched, round and solid, generally of a reddish tint, spotted and streaked with a deeper red above. The flat, fleshy leaves, bluish-green in colour, are numerous, placed alternately on the stem at very short intervals, and coarsely toothed. The upper leaves are rounded at their bases and without foot-stalks, the lower ones taper at the base to a short stalk, being almost wedge-shaped; they are largest and closest together about the middle of the stem, where they are 1 1/2 to 3 inches long.
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The flowers are held in dense heads and can be reddish or yellowish-white. A number of cultivars, often with purplish leaves, are grown in gardens as well as hybrids between this species and the related Hylotelephium spectabile (Iceplant), especially the popular Sedum ‘Herbstfreude’ (‘Autumn Joy’). Occasionally garden plants may escape and naturalise as has happened in parts of North America.

The flowers are in compact heads at the top of the stems, forming a brilliant mass of crimson, in most cases, though sometimes whitish, suffused with dull purplish rose. They are spreading and acutely pointed, three times as long as the calyx. In their centre are ten conspicuous stamens, with reddish anthers, and the ovaries they surround are also reddish.

The whole plant is smooth and somewhat shiny. It flowers in July and seeds in August.

The specific name is derived from Telephus, the son of Hercules, who is said to have discovered its virtues. Its most familiar English name, Orpine, is derived from Auripigmentum, the gold-coloured pigment, called Orpiment, or Orpin, a yellow sulphuret of the metal arsenic. This name, which might have been appropriate enough for the brilliant yellow flowers of the last two species described, is quite out of place applied to the crimson blossoms of this Sedum.

Its tenacity of life has earned it the name of ‘Live Long’ and ‘Life Everlasting,’ the length of time it will continue fresh after being gathered being remarkable. It will live a long time if uprooted and hung up in a room without earth or water, subsisting on the store of nourishment in its fleshy leaves and swollen roots.

Cultivation details
Succeeds in most soils[188] but prefers a fertile well-drained soil that is not too dry. Tolerates poor soils. Succeeds in most soils and is tolerant of quite deep shade. Established plants are drought tolerant, they grow well in dry soils and can be grown in crevices on walls. Hardy to about -20°c. This species has pink to red flowers. All members of this genus are said to have edible leaves, though those species that have yellow flowers can cause stomach upsets if they are eaten in quantity. Polymorphic, intergrading with S. caucasicum where their ranges meet. Plants in this genus seem to be immune to the predations of rabbits.

Propagation
Seed – surface sow in spring in well-drained soil in a sunny position in a greenhouse. Do not allow the soil to dry out. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. If sufficient growth is made, it is possible to plant them out during the summer, otherwise keep them in a cold-frame or greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out in early summer of the following year[K]. Division is very easy and can be carried out at almost any time in the growing season, though is probably best done in spring or early summer. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found it best to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame, planting them out once they are well established in the summer. Cuttings can be taken at almost any time in the growing season, though early in the season is probably best.

Edible Uses
Edible Parts: Leaves; Root.…..…

Leaves - Raw or cooked. The leaves have sometimes been used as a salad, like the other Sedums, but though sheep and goats eat it, horses will refuse it. Root – cooked. Used in soups, stews etc

Constituents: The whole plant is mucilaginous and slightly astringent. It contains lime, sulphur, ammonia and probably mercury.

Medicinal Action and Uses: The whole plant is astringent and cytostatic. It is a popular remedy for diarrhoea, stimulates the kidneys and has a reputation in the treatment of cancer. A poultice of the crushed leaves has been used in the treatment of boils and carbuncles

It has been used as a popular remedy for diarrhoea. The leaves are boiled in milk, and a large teacupful of the decoction taken three or four times a day is said also to stimulate the action of the kidneys, and to be serviceable for piles and haemorrhages. Orpine has also an anticancerous reputation.

Culpepper stated that it was seldom used internally in his days, but that the celebrated German herbalist, Tragus, considered its distilled water -
‘profitable for gnawings or excoriation in the stomach or bowels, for ulcers in the lungs, liver or other inward parts and cures those diseases, being drunk for days together,’   and that the root has the same action, even stronger. He says that it is:
‘used outwardly to cool inflammations upon any hurt or wound, and easeth the pain of them; as also to heal scaldings and burnings, the juice thereof being beaten with some green salad oil and anointed. The leaf bruised and laid to any green wound in the head or legs doth heal them quickly, and being bound to the throat cureth the quinsy; and it reduceth ruptures. If you make the juice into a syrup with honey or sugar, you may safely take a spoonful or two at a time for sore throat and quinsy.’

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/stonec91.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedum_telephium

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Sedum+telephium

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