Hylotelephium telephium, known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John and witch's moneybags, is a succulentperennialgroundcover of the family Crassulaceaenative to Eurasia. 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, especially the popular 'Herbstfreude'. Occasionally garden plants may escape and naturalise as has happened in parts of North America.
Taxonomy
The plant was known to botanists, including Dioscorides in his De Materia Medica as Telephion. Pliny, Gerard and Parkinson were among many later authors to describe Telephium. It was first formally described by Linnaeus in 1753, as one of 15 species of Sedum, Gray included it and related species as a section of the genus Sedum. These species differ markedly from the rest of that genus by a distinct ovary and ovules, flowering stems, leaves, inflorescence, flower parts, colour and blooming time and chromosome number. Consequently, Ohbasegregated these species into a separate genus, Hylotelephium with 28 species, specifying Hylotelephium telephium as the type species. Subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that these species constitute a distinct clade, separate from the very large Sedum genus, which is paraphyletic. Sedum is widely considered to be an unnatural catch-all taxonomic grouping. That clade, originally given the informal name Telephium and later Hylotelephium, was given the taxonomic rank of tribeTelephieae. The name Hylotelephium telephium has been widely, but not universally adopted.
Etymology and names
Telephium
The name Telephium was thought to be named after a surgical term for an ulcer that was particularly difficult to cure. This in turn was named after KingTelephus who suffered from a spear wound that would not heal.
Common names
Hylotelephium telephium has earned many common names in English, including orpine, livelong, life-everlasting, live-forever, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, midsummer-men, orphan John and witch's moneybags.
Subdivision
There are several subspecies. Ohba accepted the following:
Hylotelphium telephium subsp. telephium - Central & East Europe, E Asia
Distribution and habitat
The species is endemic from Europe to Asia, but has been widely introduced elsewhere, particularly N America. It can be found growing in fields, around hedges, hills, and on gravelly or calcareous soils.
Ecology
In N America, where it has been introduced, Hylotelephium telephium is considered invasive.
Uses
The plant has been used medicinally, being used by the Romans to treat wounds, and in later times to treat internal ulcers. It has also been used for love-divination.
