GLABRIFOLIUM

Published in Fl. URSS 9: 22, 471 (1939). This species was collected in 1934 by E.K. Balls from Vavuk Dagh, North-East Turkey and misidentified as S. armenum auct.: Wale in Bull. Alp. Gard. Soc. Vol. 10 : 106, 234 (1942): -Ref. R.B.G.E. Vol. 29 No. 1 (Jan. 1969). S. glabrifolium described in Flora URSS was from the Artvin district of Turkish Armenia. Although S. glabrifolium is clearly allied to S. armenum and also the Caucasian S. sosnowskyi – all three species have glabrous rosette leaves when mature but with the juventile leaves more or less glandular. S. glabrifolium is distinguished from the other two species by its smaller rosettes about 2,5 cm in diameter, olive-green and heavily marked with purple at the apices or in the whole of the upper half of the leaves. Rosette leaves alsp have a fringe of marginal ciliation. Flowers are pale greenish-yellow in the petals with filaments white and anthers yellow. Rather a difficult species under cultivation and inclined to damp off in summer and winter. 

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