White stonecrop
Sedum album
Family · Crassulaceae · Harmless
The carpet of fat green grains covering stone walls and outcrops, turning red in summer when the rock heats up. In July it opens into a carpet of white stars.
Walls and rocks · Uplands · Scrubland
Also known asworm grass
How to tell it
Small cylindrical leaves rounded at the tip, like fat grains of rice, loose to the touch. White five-petalled star flowers, many together. It forms dense low mats.
What it is confused with
Pale stonecrop
Petrosedum sediforme
Leaf and flower: round grains and white flowers here, pointed leaves and yellowish flowers on the other.
What it is for
Traditional external use on corns and warts in folk medicine, hence one of its Portuguese names. Not a plant to eat: in quantity it causes sickness.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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