My Hylotelephium has finally flowered and I’m so happy because it really reminds me of home. I’m not sure about the exact species, it might even be an hybrid, but I collected a few tiny offsets last December in my aunt’s garden in Milan, gave them a very small pot and just waited to see what would happen. When I used to live with my family I had a large one which looked exactly the same growing on the terrace in a massive pot, so I was unsure whether it would do well indoors, here in Scotland, and being so confined, but it did and I’m planning to re-pot it in due time to give it more space.
Formerly placed within the genus Sedum, it isn’t just your average pretty succulent: both the leaves and the root are edible and it has being used as a medicinal plant, most commonly to treat wounds, ulcers and bruises. On this note, I remember an episode from when me and my cousin were both eleven or twelve. She had fallen and got a huge, sore bruise on her arm. Being the kid I was, I met her the following day bringing mashed Hylotelephium leaves mixed with honey and olive oil and convinced her to let me spread the viscid, green mixture on her arm. At least it didn’t smell bad. The bruise turned green-yellow a lot quicker than we expected, so it seemed to be healing faster and I was happy to believe it was my doing, but who knows!
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