COLORATA fa COLORATA   Walther, 1972 (engl./ fr.)

Synonym : Echeveria lindsayana  Walther (1972)

Series Urbiniae

Type : E. Walther, 2 April 1959, from plant cultivated at the University of California Botanical Garden (57.794) (CAS 413924). This plant had been received from J.D. Zabaleta of Guadalajara, who had it from gardens in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Distribution : Mexico (Jalisco).

First Description by Walther (Echeveria, p. 91, 1972) :

Glabrous, stemless.

Rosettes simple when young, giving out offsets belatedly.

Leaves crowded, about 25 in number, elliptic-oblong, acute or shortly acuminate, to 10 cm long and 3 cm broad, thick, evenly upcurved, nearly flat above, beneath rounded and keeled, with an obscure ridge above near one edge, yellowish-green to whitish, strongly tinged carmine above.

Inflorescence to 30 cm tall, 2- branched, peduncle flexuose, to 4 mm thick at base, red, bracts appressed, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded beneath, concave above, branches secund-racemose, pedicels to 14 mm long, strongly turbinate below calyx, red.

Flowers : Sepals unequal, very thin, longest 5 mm long, deltoid to ovate-deltoid, acute, appressed, connate at base and decurrent to pedicel, corolla cylindroid, to 12 mm long, 7 mm in diameter near base, 5 mm at mouth, peach-red - coral-red, petals neither keeled nor hollowed, but strongly connate with sepals and pedicels at base, orange inside, carpels 8 mm long, slender, whitish below, above green, nectaries narrow, oblique, to 2 mm wide.

Flowering time from April on.

Cytology : n = 27.

Distributed by ISI n° 496 (1966) and ISI n° 89-49 (1989) as Echeveria lindsayana.

A big form is known as E. colorata 'Mexican Giant'.

Link to a summary of the above description in English and French.

Note :

Both, Echeveria colorata and E. lindsayana, have been described from plants of unknown origin. E. colorata has later been found in gardens in Tapalpa, said to originate from the mountains W of Tapalpa. 

Walther produced the descriptions of E. colorata and E. lindsayana almost simultaneously. In view of the fact that the differences between the two plants are insignificant, it is incomprehensible why Walther considered them two distinct species.

Regarding E. lindsayana, similar plants have later been found near the summit of Volcán de Tequila, NW of Guadalajara and 60 miles N of Tapalpa. "E. lindsayana differs from E. colorata in having slightly wider and more abruptly acuminate leaves. Grown side by side, they are distinguishable, yet they represent variations commonly found within many species of Echeveria. Accordingly, they are regarded as synonymous" (Kimnach, A revision of Echveria colorata Walther, CSJUS 52: 55ff. 1980).

Meanwhile also non glaucous, green leaved plants have been found in the Municipio of Atemajac - see below.

E. colorata fa colorata in habitat in Mexico :

E. colorata fa colorata dans l'habitat, au Mexique :