x lambii   Bramwell & G.D.Rowley, 1973

Aeonium palmense Webb ex H.Christ × Aeonium valverdense (Praeger) Praeger

[or Aeonium canariense  (L.) Webb & Berthel. × Aeonium valverdense  (Praeger) Praeger when A. palmense is considered to be included in A. canariense. (Art. H.5.2)]

Sempervivum canariense L. × Sempervivum valverdense  Praeger, Notes on Canarian and Madeiran Semperviva, Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh 29: 200. 1925 nom. nud.

Aeonium palmense  Webb ex H.Christ × Aeonium valverdense (Praeger) Praeger, Semperviva of the Canary Islands area, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 38 Sect.B (1): 478-479, t.12, fig. 16. (24 Sep) 1929.

Aeonium ×lambii  Bramwell & G.D.Rowley, in Jacobsen & Rowley, Some name changes in succulent plants, Part V, National Cactus and Succulent Journal 28(1): 5. (Mar) 1973.

Aeonium edgarii  P.V.Heath, The type of Aeonium Webb & Berthelot, Calyx 2(2): 58. (Oct) 1992 nom. illeg. (Art. 52.1).

Etym: Named for Edgar Lamb (1904-1980).

T: Islas Canarias, Hierro.

HT: Sketch of leaf, in Praeger, Semperviva of the Canary Islands area, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 38 Sect.B (1): 474, t.12, fig. 16. (24 Sep) 1929.  Autotype (Art. 9.1). The only included element.

Description (according to Praeger, An Account of the Sempervivum Group, 1932) :

Intermediate between the parents. Perennial, erect, branched, 2 feet high.

Stem 2 cm thick, bare save at apices of branches.

Leaves intermediate, with the roughish surface of valverdense, and more or less of the pubescence of palmense, tending to droop and to twist as in valverdense.

Flowers yellowish-pink.

Habitat : Canary Islands : Hierro, with the parents.

This hybrid is difficult to separate from hierrense x palmense, but the differences which distinguish valverdense from hierrense are carried into their hybrids.

In Proceedings of the Royal Irish Adacemy, 1929, Praeger wrote :

"A. palmense and A. hierrense are locally abundant on Hierro, and constantly grow together; when this is the case, hybrids are frequent. A. valverdense is more local; when it joins the other two, hybrids may be found which are clearly palmense x valverdense (being intermediate in most characters), though in some cases it is difficult to discriminate them from the closely allied palmense x hierrense, and more difficult to put the differences into words, as habit and colour of the hybrids and of the parents, and other less tangible features of the personality of each - if one may so express it - become important. The main differences  between valverdense and hierrense are the branched habit, smaller finely pubescent (not glabrous) leaves, and larger flowers of the former; and though branching and pubescence also belong to the other parent palmense, it is nevertheless mainly these differences, carried into the two hybrids, which help to distinguish them. The valverdense characters which are carried into this hybrid and separate it from hierrense x palmense are the roughish surface of the leaves, which are of distinctly paler colour than in the other hybrid, the tendency to droop and to twist of the older leaves (very characteristic of valverdense), and the less dense rosettes."