Echeveria alpina Walther, 1935

Type : Heilprin & Baker, Mt. Ixtaccihuatl, 14'200 feet, Estado de Mexico, Mexico.

First Description by Walther in Cactus and Succulent Journal US 7:70. 1935 :

Acaulescent,  caespitose.

Leaves numerous, thinnish, oblong-spatulate, to 7,3 cm long, 3 cm wide, truncate, mucronate, glaucous, margin not reddish.

Flowering stem to 12 cm tall, erect, bracts few, broad, obovate-cuneate, to 15 mm long, raceme simple, with 10 or more flowers, pedicels 3 - 5 (-9) mm long.

Flowers : Sepals subequal, patent, 7 - 9 (-10) mm long, corolla 15 mm long, 9 mm in diameter at base, reddish-orange, glaucous, petals erect.

Note :

1. Echeveria alpina is a big plant - rosette diameter to 15 cm - and "except for the lack of any purplish tinge and the simple inflorescence, E. alpina might well be mistaken for E. 'Imbricata' " (E. Walther).  As the name implies it hails from fairly high elevations, the type locality is on Mt. Ixtaccihuatl at ca 4700 m.

2. It may not be in cultivation. Plants labelled as E. alpina are misidentified throughout. Also the ISI 418 offering was completely misidentified. 

3. While the First Description 1935 is correct, the re-description by Walther (Echeveria, 1972) is useless because made from plants of much lower altitudes, i.e. not from the correct species.