(H. spectabile leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3-4). It features (a) fleshy, flat, coarsely-toothed, elliptic, alternate (but sometimes opposite on axillary shoots), dull green to blue-green leaves (to 3” long), (b) fleshy stems and (c) tiny, star-like, pink to reddish purple flowers (to 1/2” across) which bloom from late summer to frost (August-October) in dense rounded flower heads (corymbose cymes to 3-4” across). Flower color fades to burgundy brown as the flowers age. Upper leaves are sessile. Foliage and dead inflorescences often persist into winter providing some additional interest. This plant is native from eastern Europe to China and Japan, but has been introduced into many other parts of the world including Canada and the U.S. where it has escaped gardens and naturalized in a number of areas from Quebec to Saskatchewan plus the Yukon territory and from Maine to Minnesota south to Kansas, Alabama, and North Carolina plus Washington and Idaho.
Lucas Land
Allegheny Stonecrop
or
Allegheny Live-forever
Hylotelephium telephioides
From Missouri Botanical
This succulent herbaceous perennial which typically grows in an upright to semi-upright mound on unbranched stems rising to 18-24” tall. It is often hybridized with a similar upright species known as Hylotelephium spectabile (e.g., see H. AUTUMN JOY), but is primarily distinguished from H. spectabile by its alternate leaves
