stonecrop
(ˈstəʊnkrɒp)
Forms: 1 stáncrop, 4–5 stancroppe, 5 stoon-, stoncroppe, 5–6 stoncrop, 5–8 stone crop, 6 stone croppe, 7 stone cropp, 8–9 stone-crop, 7– stonecrop.
[OE. stáncrop: see stone n. and crop n. (? sense 3).]
The common name of Sedum acre (N.O. Crassulaceæ), a herb with bright yellow flowers and small cylindrical fleshy sessile leaves, growing in masses on rocks, old walls, etc.; also applied (with or without defining word) to other species of Sedum, esp. those of similar growth, and of allied genera, as the N. American Penthorum.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 354 Cassuc þefan þorn, stan crop. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 17 Crassula minor, vermicularis, an. stancroppe. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (1894) 185 Leie þerevpon a lynnen clooþ wet in þe iuys of stooncroppe. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 113 Item drynke stancroppe wyþ wermot & hit wol slee hem. 1548 Turner Names Herbes 72 Sedum... The seconde kynde is called in English thryft or stoncroppe. The thyrd kinde is called in Englishe Mouse tayle or litle stoncroppe. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Stonecrop,..an Herb of a very hot temperature, sharp and biting. 1777 Jacob Catal. Plants 103 Sedum annuum, Mountain Stone-crop. Ibid. 104 Sedum reflexum, Yellow Stone-crop, or Prick-madam... Sedum acre, Stonecrop, or Wall-pepper. 1782 J. Scott Poet. Wks. 100 Along my wall the yellow stonecrop grows. 1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley i, An ancient wall..overgrown with trailing ivy, yellow stonecrop, and dark moss. 1866 Treas. Bot. 861/1 Penthorum sedoides commonly goes by the name of Virginian Stonecrop in the United States. |
b. stonecrop tree, shrub stonecrop or tree stonecrop: names for Suæda (Salsola) fruticosa.
| c 1710 Petiver Catal. Ray's Eng. Herbal Tab. viii, Tree Stonecrop. 1721 Mortimer Husb. II. 189 The greater Stone-crop Tree is a beautiful green. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 278 Salsola..fruticosa..Shrub Stone-Crop, or Glasswort. |