Accepted Scientific Name: Echeveria elegans Rose
N. Amer. Fl. 22: 22 1905
Echeveria albicans Photo by: Giuseppe Distefano
Origin and Habitat: Mexico, without definite locality.
Synonyms:
See all synonyms of Echeveria elegans
Description: Echeveria albicansSN|27057]]SN|27057]] is one of the varieties of Echeveria elegans which is a somewhat variable taxon with several collected extreme forms that were early published as full species or as varieties, but these were too weak botanically to stand, so they are all combined in Echeveria elegansSN|27056]]SN|27056]]. It is a stemless, compact, clumping echeveria distinguished from the type by very thick, pale olive to white pruinose leaves in tight rosettes, about 10 cm across; some look like alabaster roses. The name Echeveria albicansSN|27057]]SN|27057]] is not accepted by many botanists that treat it as synonym, but it still has a value for a collector because they identify plants with particular characters. This species has long been one of the most popular with collectors and in nurseries and gardens.
Rosettes: Stem-less, glabrous, about 10 cm across, ultimately caespitose.
Leaves: Closely imbricated in bud, crowded, obovate oblong, obtuse to truncate, 3-5 cm long, 15-25 mm wide, thickest just below the tip, upcurved, with a small mucro, conspicuously pruinose, edges white somewhat translucent.
Inflorescence (raceme): Cincinnate, simple, rarely bifid, up to 25 cm long. Scape with sharp, apressed, lance-shaped leaves, 8-15 mm long. Pedicels 14 mm long.
Flowers: Sepals unequal, deltoid linear-oblong, acute, up to 10 mm long. Corolla broadly conoid to urceolate, 14-18 mm long and 10-12 mm in diameter at base, begonia-red or pink, to old-rose at base, greenish to light-yellow-green at apex, inside at apex oil-yellow. Nectaries, yellow.
Chromosome number: n = 120-130.
Subspecies, varieties, forms and cultivars of plants belonging to the Echeveria elegans group
Echeveria albicans E.Walther: leaves broad, thick and turgid, thickest just below apex, 3—5 cm long, 15—25 mm wide, pale-olive to glaucous pruinose, margins somewhat pellucid. Distribution: Mexico without definite locality - Echeveria elegans Rose: has stemless symmetrical rosettes of neat, bluish-white, fleshy leaves close to the ground; some look like alabaster roses. Distribution: Central Mexico (Hidalgo State).
- Echeveria elegans var. simulans (Rose) Poelln.
Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) Jorge Meyrán García, Lilián López Chávez “Las Crasuláceas de México” Sociedad Mexicana de Cactología, 2003
2) “Dry Climate Gardening with Succulents” Pantheon Books, 1995
3) Hermann Jacobsen “Abromeitiella to Euphorbia” Blandford Press, 1960
Cultivation and Propagation: Echeveria albicansSN|27057]]SN|27057]] is certainly one of the most versatile neat, low-growing ground cover succulents. It is easy to care for and is a good starting point for beginning gardeners. Forms beautiful clumps.
Soil: It is essential in cultivation to use a very porous soil, with adequate drainage.
Exposition: Bright light is required to prevent "stretching" of Echeverias ("stretching" occurs when a moderately fast growing plant such as an Echeveria, is grown in dim light or over-fertilized, which causes overly lush growth that contributes to weak, pallid plants).
Watering: Water thoroughly when soil is dry to the touch, keep dryer in winter.
Hardiness: It thrives in subtropical climates. Protect from frost, in temperate regions it is grown under glass with heat. It is a bit more frost sensitive than most.
Uses: Echeveria albicansSN|27057]]SN|27057]] is cultivated as an ornamental plant for rock gardens planting, or as a potted plant. The low-growing clusters are very suitable to fill rock crevices and are occasionally used to cover the roof tiles of a house‐top. A layer of rosettes stapled to the roof overhang is used to hold an inch of peaty soil to the roof. It is also used to form silvery blue small borders and are believed to keep away evil spirits. Mature clusters of rosette cascading from containers provide sculptural forms of extreme elegance in the home and garden.
Propagation: Quite easy from seed or from cuttings, the latter either from individual leaves or from offset rosettes.
