PENTHORUM

genus of perennial herbs native to East Asia and eastern North America. All three species in the genus have underground stems, toothed leaves, and one-sided flower clusters borne at the branch tips. The ditch, or Virginian, stonecrop (P. sedoides) grows to about 0.6 m (2 feet) tall. It has pale, greenish yellow flowers and pale green leaves that turn bright orange as they mature. Ditch stonecrop is planted as an ornamental at the edges of pools or in shallow water. The genus Penthorum is variously classified as belonging to the family Saxifragaceae or the family Crassulaceae and is treated by still other authorities as its own family (Penthoraceae).