Echeveria DC.
Perennial, acaulous or short-stemmed herbs, sometimes small, branched subshrubs. Lvs alternate, simple, entire, free, in loose or dense rosettes. Infl. axillary, a simple or branched cyme, often elongated and racemose and then fls secund, sometimes cymes paniculate and thyrsoid. Fls 5-merous, ± erect to horizontal, often pendent in bud. Sepals free or connate towards base, subequal to very unequal. Petals united at base, forming a tube except at spreading tips, thick and fleshy, usually orange to red, sometimes pale yellow to white; tube often angled towards base. Stamens 10, included, in 2 unequal or somewhat unequal whorls; inner whorl epipetalous. Carpels 5, united at base. Scales free, lunate or reniform, often truncate. Seeds numerous.
Key
c. 150 spp., warm temperate and tropical America from Texas and Mexico S. to N. Argentina, mainly in Mexico. Naturalised sp. 1 and 1 hybrid.
A number of Echeveria spp. are commonly cultivated in N.Z. They are grown as pot and patio plants, for border edges, dry walls, roadside embankments and carpet bedding. In addition to the spp. described below, 3 others are prominent and long persist as relics of cultivation: E. elegans Rose, Mexican gem, the hairy E. setosa Rose et J. Purpus., the firecracker plant, and its hybrid E. cv. 'Seto-Oliver', and E. multicaulis Rose. The last is probably represented by an unnumbered specimen collected from an apparently wild plant on Rangitoto Id, Auckland, by A. E. Esler, 12.9.1971. It has the rough, branched stems, green lvs with red margins, and non-secund fls with corollas red outside and yellow inside that are features of this sp. Many spp. of the related genus Dudleya Britton et Rose were previously included in Echeveria, for example the very commonly cultivated D. farinosa (Lindley) Britton et Rose which is generally known as E. cotyledon. The taxonomy of Echeveria is often confused owing to the prevalence of hybrids. This account follows Walther, E., Echeveria (1972).
The naturalised taxa are illustrated in Plate 12.
