DOLOMITICUM  Facchinetti, 1855

Synonyms :

Sempervivum tectorum var. angustifolium  Leybold (1854)

Sempervivum lehmannii  Schnittspahn (1863)

Sempervivum oligotrichum  Dalla Torre (1882)

Distribution : Italy (south-eastern Alps, southern Tirol); on dolomite and basait rocks, 1600 – 2500 m.

Description (according to 't Hart, Bleij & Zonneveld in IHSP, 2003) :

Rosettes densely tufted, subglobose, mostly closed, 1 - 5 cm in diameter, with whitish centre from flexuous hairs on the tips of young leaves, stolons slender, to 2 cm.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, bright green with brownish tip, 10 - 15 x 3 - 5 mm, sparsely pubescent, apical cilia coarser than lateral ones.

Flowering branches 5 - 15 cm, conspicuously whitish pubescent, leaves somewhat longer than in the rosette.

Inflorescence cymes with 2 - 3 monochasial or forked cincinni, with up to 20 flowers.

FIowers 10- to 14-merous, ± 2 cm in diameter, sepals connate for up to 2 mm, obtuse, deep purple, ± 6 mm, petals broadly lanceolate, shortly acuminate, narrowed at the base, deep reddish-pink, with a central stripe, reddish-brown above, dorsally green at the base, 9 - 10 x ± 2 mm, filaments ± glabrous, red, anthers red.

Cytology : 2n =72

The colour of the flowers as well as the presence of hairs on the tips of young leaves indicate a relationship with S. arachnoideum.

See also : L'inafferrabile Semprevivo delle Dolomiti e l'ibrido che non c'era /The elusive houseleek of the Dolomites and the hybrid that wasn't there before.

See also : Alan C. Smith, The Genus Sempervivum and Jovibarba, 1980