sempervivum

[Latin semper = always, and vivus living, alive. Named from their tenacity of life.] Bot.: House-leek; a genus of Cra ulee. Succulent herbs or undershrubs, Radicle leaves densely rosulate, stoloniferous from their axils, the cauline ones alternate; calyx six to twenty-cleft; petals distinct or nearly so; stamens twice as many as the petals, or as many and opposite to them; follicles many-seeded; hypogynous scales laciniated, toothed, or wanting. Known species about forty, from Europe, North Africa, especially Madeira and the Canary Islands. The fisnermen of Madeira rub their nets with the fresh leaves of S. glutinosum, steeping them afterward in an alkaline liquor; this renders them as durable as if they were tanned.