Species
+

Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H.Ohba

Livelong, Midsummer-men, Orpine, Orpine (EN)

Climate known 40 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Hylotelephium telephium, known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John, witch's moneybags, and garden stonecrop is a succulent perennial plant of the family Crassulaceae native to Eurasia. The flowers are held in dense heads and can be reddish or yellowish-white. A number of cultivars, often with purplish leaves, are grown in gardens as well as hybrids between this species and the related Hylotelephium spectabile (iceplant), especially the popular 'Herbstfreude'. Occasionally garden plants may escape and naturalise as has happened in parts of North America.

Text from Wikipedia, “Hylotelephium telephium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Hylotelephium

Hylotelephium is a genus of flowering plants in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae. It includes about 33 species distributed in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Text from Wikipedia, “Hylotelephium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Crassulaceae
Described by
(L.) H.Ohba
Native to
Great Britain, Austria, Belgium +39
Wild records
363 in range· 135 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
850mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 85 mm (CHELSA)
Light
4–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Crassulaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 850 mm a year, wettest July at 85 mm, driest April at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -13.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Anacampseros rupivaga Jord. & Fourr., 1866; Anacampseros tarnensis Sudre ex A.W.Hill, 1926; Anacampseros tarnensis Sudre, 1895; Sedum archangelicum Rupr.; Sedum bohuslavii Rupr., 1846 and 7 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Crassulaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (615 mm of 850 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 20.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 850 mm a year, wettest July at 85 mm, driest April at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

850 mm a year at the habitat, 615 mm of it June to January. Wettest month July at 85 mm, driest April at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 484 mm to 1567 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -13.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -13.5 °C, the absolute minimum -26.8 °C, about 101 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -6.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -18.0 °C to 0.5 °C), warmest day 22.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -13.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 2 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul; mean night from -7 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 850 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 328 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -26.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost29.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)-26.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 4–36RH 59–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 328 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C2 / -11–53 / -9–66 / -2–1011 / 7–1417 / 13–1820 / 17–2222 / 19–2421 / 19–2317 / 13–1913 / 6–156 / -4–92 / -9–6
Night °C-7 / -18–1-6 / -17–0-3 / -10–31 / -3–57 / 4–911 / 8–1214 / 11–1513 / 10–149 / 5–114 / -0–8-2 / -10–4-6 / -16–1
Rain mm71 / 26–10557 / 20–9066 / 20–10746 / 30–11466 / 43–15078 / 56–14885 / 65–14578 / 58–15674 / 48–13476 / 39–12775 / 34–11978 / 28–123
DLI5 / 4–1010 / 9–1619 / 16–2528 / 26–3334 / 32–3736 / 33–3834 / 32–3728 / 26–3219 / 16–2511 / 8–176 / 4–114 / 3–8
RH %68 / 60–7466 / 60–7063 / 59–6559 / 56–6159 / 53–6259 / 55–6260 / 57–6260 / 58–6262 / 59–6464 / 61–6667 / 62–6969 / 61–72

Each figure is the median across the 328 grid cells holding the 363 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 875:3740 (46.225, 7.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -26.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -13.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 328 distinct grid cells holding the 363 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 875:3740 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 46.00_6.875, lapse-corrected -964 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 750 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutskiya, Amur, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Magadan, Primorye, Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, China North-Central, Xinjiang· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Northwest European Russia, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia
Kew's description“succulent perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker46.659, 7.537 · in the densest population, 131 records (36% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 363 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 135 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 60 km away. 399 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 363 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Hylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephiumHylotelephium telephium

Photographs: (c) Анна Митрошенкова, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Евгений Маринкин, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Юлия, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Виктор Норкин, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Hylotelephium telephium, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Current state of populations of Rhodiola rosea L. (Crassulaceae) in East Kazakhstan
Serik A. Kubentayev, Молдир Жумагул, Meruyert Kurmanbayeva, D.T. Alibekov (2021) · Botanical studies
A strong decline of the endangered Apollo butterfly over 20 years in the archipelago of southern Finland
Jonna M. Kukkonen, Maija Mussaari, Marianne S. Fred, Jon E. Brommer (2022) · Journal of Insect Conservation
Diversity within Mediterranean Crassulaceae
Henk ’t Hart (1997) · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Back to the future: Climate change effects on habitat suitability of Parnassius apollo throughout the Quaternary glacial cycles
Claudio Sbaraglia, Kenz Raouf Samraoui, Alessandro Massolo, Alena Sucháčková Bartoňová (2022) · Insect Conservation and Diversity
Volatile profiles of the orpines roots: Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H. Ohba, H. maximum (L.) Holub and H. spectabile (Boreau) H. Ohba x telephium (L.) H. Ohba
Snežana Č. Jovanović, Olga Jovanović, Zorica S. Mitić, Tatjana Golubović (2017) · Flavour and Fragrance Journal
Determining oviposition preferences to inform population reinforcement of the specialist chequered blue butterfly ( Scolitantides orion )
Aivars Dunskis, Julia Stigenberg, Jon Ågren, Nina Sletvold (2024) · Ecological Solutions and Evidence
Hylotelephium telephium (L) H. Ohba leaves juice improves herpetic lesions: new findings from in vitro investigations
Rosaria Arvia, Marco Biagi, Giulia Baini, Giorgio Cappellucci (2024) · Natural Product Research
Insights on the In Vitro Wound Healing Effects of Sedum telephium L. Leaf Juice
Giorgio Cappellucci, Alessia Paganelli, Pier Luca Ceccarelli, Elisabetta Miraldi (2024) · Cosmetics
Notes floristiques. Observations faites au Luxembourg (2022-2023)
Yves Krippel, Thierry Helminger (2024) · Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Hylotelephium 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 12 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.