Echeveria | |
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Echeveria elegans | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Saxifragales |
Family: | Crassulaceae |
Subfamily: | Sempervivoideae |
Tribe: | Sedeae |
Genus: | Echeveria DC. [1] |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
Courantia Lem.
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Echeveria is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, native to semi-desert areas of Central America, Mexico and northwestern South America.
Plants may be evergreen or deciduous. Flowers on short stalks (cymes) arise from compact rosettes of succulent fleshy, often brightly coloured leaves. [2] Species are polycarpic, meaning that they may flower and set seed many times over the course of their lifetimes. Often numerous offsets are produced, and are commonly known as "hen and chicks", which can also refer to other genera, such as Sempervivum , that are significantly different from Echeveria.
Many species of Echeveria serve important environmental roles, such as those of host plants for butterflies. For example, the butterfly Callophrys xami uses several species of Echeveria, such as Echevelia gibbiflora, for suitable host plants. Even more, these plants are integral to the oviposition process of C. xami and some other butterfly species as well. [3] [4]
Echeveria is named for Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy, a botanical illustrator who contributed to Flora Mexicana. [5]
The genus was erected by A. P. de Candolle in 1828, and is named after the 18th century Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy. As of June 2018 [update] , the genus consists of about 150 species, including genera such as Oliveranthus and Urbinia that have formerly been split off from Echeveria.
Molecular phylogenetic studies have repeatedly shown the genus not to be monophyletic: species of Echeveria cluster with species of Cremnophila , Graptopetalum , Pachyphytum , and Thompsonella as well as species of Sedum sect. Pachysedum. The former Urbinia species do appear to form a monophyletic group within this grouping. [6] [7] Although it is clear that Echeveria is not monophyletic, its limits are not clear, and further analyses are needed to determine whether and how the genus should be split, or if it should be included in an expanded concept of Sedum . [7]
The International Crassulaceae Network accepts the following species: [8]
Many Echeveria species are popular as ornamental garden plants. They are drought-resistant, although they do better with regular deep watering and fertilizing. Most will tolerate shade and some frost, although hybrids tend to be less tolerant. Most lose their lower leaves in winter; as a result, after a few years, the plants lose their compact appearance and need to be re-rooted or propagated. In addition, if not removed, the shed leaves may decay, harboring fungus that can then infect the plant.
They can be propagated easily by separating offsets, but also by leaf cuttings, and by seed if they are not hybrids.
Echeveria has been extensively bred and hybridized. The following is a selection of available plants.
The following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: [9]
Sempervivum is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, commonly known as houseleeks. Other common names include liveforever and hen and chicks, a name shared with plants of other genera as well. They are succulent perennials forming mats composed of tufted leaves in rosettes. In favourable conditions they spread rapidly via offsets, and several species are valued in cultivation as groundcover for dry, sunny locations.
Sedum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into the southern hemisphere in Africa and South America. The plants vary from annual and creeping herbs to shrubs. The plants have water-storing leaves. The flowers usually have five petals, seldom four or six. There are typically twice as many stamens as petals. Various species formerly classified as Sedum are now in the segregate genera Hylotelephium and Rhodiola.
Dudleya, commonly known as liveforevers is a genus of rosette-forming succulent plants in the stonecrop family, Crassulaceae, consisting of about 68 taxa in southwestern North America and Guadalupe Island. The species come in many forms, some large and evergreen, others geophytic and deciduous. Yet, despite their dramatic variations in appearance, most species readily hybridize. The flowers of Dudleya have parts numbered in fives, with the petals arranged in tubular, star-shaped, and bell-shaped forms and, when fruiting, are filled with tiny, ovoid-crescent-shaped seeds.
Sedum morganianum, the donkey tail or burro's tail, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to southern Mexico. It is a succulent perennial producing trailing stems up to 60 cm (24 in) long, with fleshy blue-green leaves and terminal pink to red flowers in summer. S. morganianum has been found wild in two ravines at Tenampa county, in central Veracruz, in eastern Mexico and on vertical cliffs of igneous rock in the Tropical Deciduous Forest zone. Due to its restricted geographic distribution, it should be regarded as a micro-endemic species.
Graptopetalum (leatherpetal) is a plant genus of the family Crassulaceae. They are perennial succulent plants and native to Mexico and Arizona. They grow usually in a rosette. There are around 19 species in this genus.
Dudleya caespitosa is a succulent plant known by several common names, including sea lettuce, sand lettuce, and coast dudleya. It is endemic to California, where it grows along the coastline in the southern half of the state. Taxonomically, this species is a highly variable complex of polymorphic and polyploid plants, closely related to numerous neighboring species such as Dudleya farinosa, Dudleya greenei and Dudleya palmeri. It is delimited from neighboring species on an arbitrary basis of distribution and chromosome number, and may not be immediately separable from the other species it approaches.
Dudleya candelabrum is a species of succulent plant known by the common names candleholder liveforever or candleholder dudleya. Endemic to California, this species grows wild only on the northern Channel Islands, where it is found in open rocky places and north-facing slopes. It is characterized by thin, spade-shaped green leaves and an inflorescence covered in long, reflexed bracts, with pale yellow flowers. It has been threatened by poachers shipping plants to South Korea.
Dudleya edulis is a species of perennial, succulent flowering plant of the Crassulaceae, known by the common names fingertips, lady-fingers, mission lettuce, or simply the San Diego dudleya. The common name "fingertips" denotes the finger-like shape of the leaves; the specific epithet edulis refers to the Kumeyaay people's traditional foraging and consumption of the plant's young scapes. Dudleya edulis is native to the dry, coastal cliffs and chaparral hills of Southern California and northern Baja California, where it has adapted to absorb as much moisture as possible from the nightly fog and marine layer which forms over the Pacific Ocean and gradually moves slightly inland, typically covering all plants and stationary objects in dew. In addition to its inherent drought-tolerance and xeric qualities, this species is also highly salt-tolerant, as it grows almost exclusively facing the ocean, often in exposed settings where it is subjected to regular periods of extreme wind and weather. The species may be found growing on rocky hillsides, sandstone sea cliffs, chaparral habitat, arid canyons, or rooted between exposed, bare rock crevices.
Dudleya farinosa is a species of succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae known by several common names, including bluff lettuce, powdery liveforever, and powdery dudleya. A coastal plant of northern California and southern Oregon, it is typically found on ocean bluffs just directly above the reach of the waves, and sometimes inland. Its appearance is characterized by lotus-like rosettes of beveled leaves, and in summer the plant erects a tall pink to red peduncle densely covered in bracts, topped with branches of pale yellow flowers. The green or white rosettes of this plant can be seen covering stretches of rocky coast and nearby islets.
Echeveria setosa, the Mexican fire cracker, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to semi-desert areas of Mexico and common throughout Puebla.
Sedum spathulifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names broadleaf stonecrop, yellow stonecrop, and spoon-leaved stonecrop. An evergreen perennial, it is native to western North America from British Columbia to southern California, where it can be found often in shade in many types of rocky habitat in coastal and inland hills and mountains.
Echeveria agavoides, or 'lipstick' echeveria, is a species of succulent flowering plant of the stonecrop (sedum) family Crassulaceae, native to the rocky canyons and arid hillsides of Central Mexico. It is primarily known from the states of Aguascalientes, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, though it has been sighted as far north as Coahuila and as far south as Oaxaca.
Echeveria runyonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, that is native to the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico. Several cultivars have been described and cultivated.
Hylotelephium, syn. Sedum, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae. Various species have been hybridized by horticulturalists to create new cultivars. Many of the newer ones are patented.
Echeveria chihuahuaensis, sometimes Echeveria chihuahuensis, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is native to Mexico. It is a diploid species, with a chromosome count of 50.
Echeveria minima, the miniatureecheveria, is a species of succulent flowering plant in the stonecrop (sedum) family,Crassulaceae, native to northeastern Mexico. Among the many Echeveria species and cultivars, Echeveria minima, in particular, has rather small and diminutive, light-teal blue rosettes edged with pink leaf margins. The attractive, "artichoke"-like rosettes eventually produce enough offsets that they grow into a small colony, forming a low mound. Echeveria minima readily produces yellow, bell-shaped flowers on vertical inflorescences in the spring. A highly collectible succulent, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Echeveria pulvinata, the plush plant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Echeveria, native to southwest and central Mexico. A succulent, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Its variety Echeveria pulvinata var. leucotricha, under the synonym Echeveria leucotricha, the chenille plant, has also gained the Award of Garden Merit.
Dudleya saxosa subsp. collomiae, known by the common name Gila County liveforever, is a subspecies of perennial succulent plant within the genus Dudleya native to central Arizona. It is characterized by showy bright-yellow flowers on an upright inflorescence colored pink, red or orange. The leaves are green or covered in a white, powdery wax. This species is found growing in rocky slopes, canyons, and crevices, and often on Sonoran Desert sky islands.
Reidmorania occidentalis is a succulent plant in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae) native to the state of Sinaloa in Mexico. It is within the monotypic genus Reidmorania, which is named after botanist Reid Moran, who was notable for his research in the Crassulaceae family.