It has been a long, hot summer. Today we have finally had some rain after weeks of drought, but we could do with a lot more.

Plants have been looking stressed and short grass has gone brown in many places but there have been some floral delights on recent bike rides, such as a nice patch of Harebells, Campanula rotundifolia, and some clumps of Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium.

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium, on a south-facing roadside bank in East Norfolk, 17th August 2025.

When Orpine is in flower its tall stems of pink flowers stand out and dazzle. It looks too exotic to be growing on a roadside and resembles its near relative, Ice Plant (Hylotelephium spectabile), which is often grown in gardens (note 1).

Ice Plant is an introduction from south-east Asia but Orpine is a true British native and East Norfolk is one of its strongholds. (It’s a neophyte in Ireland and the Channel Islands.)

Orpine is a perennial herb that tends to form small but very persistent colonies. It dies back in winter and blends in with surrounding vegetation until it starts to flower (from July to September, usually peaking in mid to late August). I’ve only ever seen it on roadsides, on banks or beneath hedges, but it grows in scrub, on the borders of woods and on limestone pavements, as well as some ancient woodlands. In the latter it sometimes doesn’t flower.

Hylotelephium telephium distribution map from BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020

Orpine, like Ice Plant, makes a good garden plant in well drained soil in full sun, where it will form a neat clump 0.5 – 1 metres (20 – 40 inches) tall and 0.1 – 0.5 metres (4 – 20 inches) across in two to five years. It is hardy down to -20 Celsius.

Orpine’s use as a garden plant means that the current distribution of Hylotelephium telephium includes naturalised colonies, usually near houses, as well as truly native plants. The BSBI Online Plant Atlas maps it without a status because “the native range in Britain is now hopelessly obscured by such escapes“.

Deer like to eat Orpine and this may be causing its decline in some areas. I’ve been told that Orpine is declining in Oxfordshire, for a variety of reasons: being eaten by deer, being shaded out by scrub and due to intensive cutting of roadside verges (note 2). But Jo from Norfolk Flora Group tells me she hasn’t noticed a decline in East Norfolk. Our road verges tend to be cut in May and Orpine will grow back and produce extra flowering stems (note 3).

Outside the British Isles, Hylotelephium telephium is native in most of Eurasia, with the exception of most of Scandinavia and parts of European Russia. It has been introduced into parts of Canada and the United States (note 4).

Orpine, Hylotelephium telephium, on a roadside north of Norwich. 22nd August 2025.

There are some great photos of Orpine on the Wild Flower Finder website.

Hylotelephium telephium is a member of the Crassulaceae, the Stonecrop family. Members of the family are well adapted for dry conditions and have succulent leaves and a a form of photosynthesis known as crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) that allows them to photosynthesise in the daytime and exchange gases during the cooler temperatures of the night, minimising water loss. Some members of the family also have hairy leaves to provide protection from strong sunlight.

Finding Orpine is always a treat.

It is not common enough to pick for food or medicine, unless you have an excess of the plant in your own garden. But according to the Plants For A Future website Orpine leaves are edible raw or cooked and the root is edible when cooked.

Medicinal uses for Orpine: “The whole plant is astringent and cytostatic. It is a popular remedy for diarrhoea, stimulates the kidneys and has a reputation in the treatment of cancer. A poultice of the crushed leaves has been used in the treatment of boils and carbuncles.”

In “The English Physitian” (1652), Nicholas Culpeper gave the following suggestions: “Outwardly, used with vinegar it clears the skin, inwardly taken, it helps gnawings of the stomach and bowels, ulcers in the lungs, bloody flux and Quinsy in the throat: for which last disease, it is inferior to none. Take not too much of it …” (note 5).

Orpine’s specific name, telephium, derives from Greek mythology. King Telephius was wounded in battle by Achilles and his wound wouldn’t heal until Achilles scraped pieces of his spear onto it.

Orpine has some other English names: Livelong, Life-everlasting, Live-forever, Frog’s-stomach, Harping Johnny, Midsummer-men (Midsummer Men), Orphan John and Witch’s Moneybags.

The first three names refer to the ability of the plant to sustain itself for a long period when uprooted or after being cut for decoration with the leaves kept on as both the leaves and the root are fleshy.

In “Flora Britannica” Richard Mabey explains that the name Midsummer Men comes from an obsolete custom of placing Orpine leaves indoors, in cracks in beams and joists. Sprigs of Orpine were placed in pairs (to represent two sweethearts) and the way they inclined away or apart was supposed to predict whether or not the romance would thrive. One of the pair would die if either sprig withered (note 6).

I haven’t been able to find an explanation for the other names, but presumably “Frog’s-stomach” and “Witch’s moneybags” describe the supposed shape of the plant’s shoots and/or roots. Please let me know if you have an explanation.

Notes

Note 1 – Hylotelephium spectabile is often known by its older scientific name of Sedum spectabile.

Note 2 – Judy Webb, in a comment on a post on BlueSky Social.

Note 3 – Thanks to Jo Parmenter for this information. The RHS recommends giving Orpine plants the “Chelsea chop”: “For bushy, compact plants, cut back the new stems by half in late May.”

Note 4 – There are at least four subspecies of Hylotelphium telephium:

• Hylotelphium telephium ssp. fabaria Koch – West & Central Europe
• Hylotelphium telephium ssp. maximum L. – Europe & W Asia
• Hylotelphium telephium ssp. ruprechtii Jalas – North-east Europe
• Hylotelphium telephium ssp. telephium – Central & East Europe, E Asia.

In the “New Flora of the British Isles“ (Fourth Edition, 2019), Clive Stace describes ssp fabaria as the common form in Britain, with the presence of ssp. telephium uncertain, at least as a native.

The NatureGate website says that Orpine is native by the south and south-west coasts of Finland but is introduced elsewhere.

Note 5 – Culpeper’s book is better known by its later title of “The Complete Herbal”.

Note 6 – Richard Mabey, pp 177 – 178, “Flora Britannica”. Sinclair-Stevenson, 1996.