GIUSEPPII   Wale, 1941

Distribution : NW Spain.

Description :

Rosettes 2 cm in diameter, rather compact, very pubescent, with the outer leaves half-spreading.

Stolons slender, about 6, up to 2 cm long.

Rosette leaves 16 x 7 mm, 2.5 mm thick, obovate, acuminate, the upper side of the lamina a little convex, the lower convex, densely pubescent on either side with short stout hairs, cilia long (up to 1.8 mm) and stout (especially at the apex), pale green with a small brown apex.

Cauline leaves not crowded, 20 x 7 mm and 2 mm thick, ovate-lanceolate, cuspidate, puberulous, strongly ciliate, purple.

Inflorescence 12 cm high, slender, very pubescent, covered with hairs up to 2 mm long, with two simple branches, with about 15 flowers, with very short pedicels.

Flowers 9- merous, 2.3 cm in diameter, red, buds ovoid-acute, calyx 6 mm long, sepals acute, ovate-deltoid, 4 x 1.5 mm, 0.6 mm thick, petals 10 x 2.9 mm, broadly lanceolate, apiculate, narrowed at the base, red, with a very narrow whitish margin, pubescent dorsally, strongly ciliate, filaments red, thinly glandular pubescent below, anthers red-spotted.

Some authors consider S. giuseppii a hybrid of S. arachnoideum x S. cantabricum, however the latter is not growing where the former is occurring.

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