DECUMBENS var. DECUMBENS

Type : Baker 4143A. Peru, Dept. Cuzco, 15 km north of Calca on road to Amparaes, 3500 m, October 9, 1982. (HBG 75907).

Distribution: Peru (Cuzco), Bolivia (Dept. Santa Cruz, Prov. Caballero; Dept. Cochabamba, Prov. Ayopaya).

First Description by Myron Kimnach in Cactus and Succulent Journal (US) 67(1): 3. 1995 (from a plant grown at the Huntington Botanical Garden) :

Plant proliferous, glabrous in all parts.

Stems to 3 cm high or more, 8 - 11 mm thick.

Rosettes hemispherical, 2 - 3 cm tall, 4 - 7 cm wide, of ca 20 - 24 leaves.

Leaves oblanceolate, with an acute, slightly recurving cusp ca 2 mm long, 2 - 3.5 cm long, ca 8 mm wide at base, 8 - 12 mm wide at widest part ca 1 cm below apex, 3 - 4 mm thick, the inner face flat to slightly concave, the outer face convex, both faces obscurely keeled along apical 1 - 3 cm, light green when young, later olive-tan.

Flowering stem rarely ascending, more commonly horizontal or declining along basal 6 - 12 cm and horizontal-ascending for the remaining 20 - 30 cm, rachis 2 - 4 mm thick, pinkish cream, peduncular bracts 19 - 26, spaced ca 5 - 25 mm apart, ascending, the apical half somewhat recurving, shaped like the leaves, 18 - 30 mm long, 6 - 10 mm wide, ca 3 mm thick, with an ovate, obtuse basal spur ca 1 mm long, inflorescence an equilateral raceme 12 - 24 cm long, with 9 - 20 flowers, the rachis sinuous, ascending or subhorizontal and 1 - 3 mm thick, inflorescence bracts 8 - 18, each subtending a single flower, rarely with two flowers, oblanceolate to linear, 10 - 15 mm long, 2 - 4 mm wide, 1 - 2 mm thick, pedicels ascending, 1 - 2.5 cm long, ca 1 mm thick, pinkish, each with 2 (-3) bracteoles on apical half, these linear-deltoid, 1 - 2 mm long, less than 0.5 mm wide.

Flowers 9 - 20, sepals fused for less than 1 mm at base, unequal, more or less appressed to corolla, apices slightly recurving, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, 5 - 7 mm long, 1.5 - 2 mm wide, ca 1 mm thick, tan-olive, corolla urceolate, apex expanding at nearly a right angle, obscurely pentagonal, 13 - 15 mm long, 5 - 6 mm thick near base, 4 - 5 mm thick just below apex, petals linear-lanceolate, acuminte, acute, 3.5 - 4 mm wide, the exterior face with a subacute keel, outside red, slightly yellowish on apical half and on keel, inside red, yellowish on basal half ......

Flowering time : June - July.

Cytology : n = 175 ± 5

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

Note :

According to Pino, E. decumbens var. decumbens has never been found again at the type locality, it may however occur in more southern and eastern locations.