Suomi
Svenska
Live-forever
Hylotelephium telephium
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Live-forever is a sturdy, upright succulent with thick, water-storing leaves. It favours sunny, dry, stony places and is also widely grown in rock gardens and sometimes escapes. In late summer it bears dense heads of many small, star-shaped flowers that can be greenish white, yellowish or red.
Did you know?
- It stores water in both its leaves and thick roots, which helps it survive long dry spells.
- In Swedish folk tradition it’s called the “love herb”: paired cut shoots were hung up to see if they would bend toward one another.
About the species
Identification
15–50 cm tall. Stems upright, smooth and usually unbranched. Leaves attach directly to the stem, 2–10 cm long, broad and thick, with wavy or toothed edges. At the top sits a dense, many-flowered cluster; each small flower is star-like with five pointed parts and may be greenish white, pale yellow or red. Later it forms dry pods with many tiny seeds. Compared with low mat-forming stonecrops, live-forever is taller and sturdier, with broad fleshy leaves and late-summer flower clusters at the stem tips. Flowers in Finland from July to September.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
rock
Flowering
Jul–Sep
About the habitat
Dry, sunny, stony or sandy ground: rocky outcrops, hillsides, stone piles and walls, field margins and sea shores; also as a garden plant and escape. Mainly in the southwest and along the west coast; also in southern and eastern Finland; elsewhere scattered and rare.
Sources
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(MHNT) Hylotelephium telephium - Habitus.jpg
Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Itämeri: karut rannikkometsät, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38743
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomaksaruoho
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