Goldmoss Stonecrop/ Bidende Stenurt

Sedum acre

Goldmoss stonecrop, church dike: photo gb

Flora and Fauna

Goldmoss stonecrop (wikipedia)

Goldmoss stonecrop (Bidende stenurt) is a low-growing perrenial plant of the family Crassulaceae or Stonecrop.  Common names besides goldmoss stonecrop are mossy stonecrop, biting stonecrop and wallpepper. The plant forms mat-like stands. It stores water in the fleshy leaves and is called a succulent.

Stonecrop has starry yellow flowers which form a three to six flowered cyme and the fruit is five-united with many seeded follicles. The leaves can be reddish brown in the autumn.
 
Goldmoss stonecrop is native to Europe but also naturalized in North America and New Zealand. It is common n Denmark except in West Jutland. It grows in thin dry soils on shingle beaches, dry stone walls, dry banks, seashore rocks, roadside verge,  wasteland and sandy meadows near the sea.

Garden.

Goldmoss stonecrop, church dike, Himmerland /gb.

Goldmoss stonecrop is a popular plant in rockeries as an ornamental.  It grows well in poor soils, sand, rock gardens, and rich garden soil, under a variety of light levels. However, it does not thrive in dense shade with limited water. The spread of seed can easly make the plant weed-like on dry and warm soil.



Caution:
The leaves and the stalks have a bitter taste due to alkaloids. The leaves contain an acid fluid that can cause skin rashes. If people eat of the plant it might cause damage in skin and mucious membranes.Goldmoss stonecrop is not recomended in medicine today

Folk Medicine
1546: Acc. to Henrik Smid the Goldmoss stonecrop has the same healing powers as houseleek, the juice made people vomit and "peasants and simple folks" used stonecrop as an emetic.
Stonecrop was used as a dissolving cover upon nails.  A decoction mixed with alum and honey was used as a drink against scurvy and as a mouthwash for bad gums and loose teeth.
Dried and crushed goldmoss stonecrop against epilepsy. The juice or crushed leaves were put upon 
hard nodules or swollen glands.

Urglaawe (FOLKLORE) Biting stonecrop is known as Graddliche-Meed-un-Buwe, Eisegraut, Mauermoos, and Quekarmeedel in Deitsch. In Urglaawe it is considered to be a sacred plant due to its association with the Teutonic god Dunner. ( see the god Thor) 

White stonecrop/ Hvid stenurt /Sedum album 

white stonecrop, photo wikipedia

 The plant on the left is relatively drought stressed and the one on the right is well watered
 (photo: wikipedia)

White stonecrop has white flowers, redspotted leaves and dark red anthers. It favours alkaline calciferous soil and grows here and there in Denmak and is feral on stone dikes
It is found in the northern temperate regions of the world, often growing in crevices or free-draining rocky soil. As a long-day plant it grows vegetatively for most of the year and flowers in June and July. 

Garden:
White stonecrop is popular in garden rockeries. It thrives on a very thin soil that would not be enough for other plants. The fleshy water storing leaves help the plant to survive long periods of drought.
White stonecrop was used as a medical cover upon haemorroids and against cancer.


Food:
Both white stonecrop and rocky stonecrop were cultivated and eaten as a salad in some places in Denmark.

Superstition 
If people had a stonecrop which a raven was fetching to save its young bird it maade the carrier invisible 

Rocky stonecrop /Bjergstenurt/ Sedum rupestre/Sedum releflexum   with yellow flowers, also known as reflexed stonecrop, Jenny's stonecrop and prick-madam. It is native to northern, central and southwestern Europe. The rocky stonecrop grows in the same habitats as white stonecrop.  Like white stonecrop it is a popular ornamental plant in the garden. There are named cultivars with variegated leaves.











source: 
Brøndegaard, Dansk etnobotanik,Folk og flora bd 3. . 
wikipedia : Dansk og engelsk Sedum/ Stenurt.