QUITENSIS var. QUITENSIS

Synonyms :

Echeveria aequatorialis  Rose ex von Poellnitz (1935)

Echeveria columbiana  von Poellnitz (1935)

Echeveria quitensis var. gracilior  Sodiro ex von Poellnitz (1935) (nom. inval. Art. 34.1a).

Echeveria quitensis var. sprucei  (Baker) Poelln. (1935)

Distribution : Colombia, Ecuador.

First Description as Sedum quitense  Kunth, Nova Genera et Species Plantarum VI: 46, 47. 1823 :

Stems terete, glabrous.

Leaves alternate, sessile, spathulate-lanceolate, slightly acute, fleshy, convex below, flat above, absolutely entire, glabrous, 4.5 – 4.7 cm long or more, 11,25 mm wide.

Raceme elongate, erect, many-flowered.

Flowers scattered, pedicellate, orange, flowers have the same size as those of E. bicolor.

Pedicels 9 mm long, glabrous, with one bract, glabrous as well as rachis.

Bracts lanceolate, fleshy.

Calyx 5-parted, glabrous, persistens, sepals ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, flat, half the size of the corolla.

Petals 5, inserted in the calyx, oblong, acuminate, base broad, fairly flat, outer side carinate, glabrous, equal, spreading.

Cytology : n = 22.

Note :

1. An extremely variable taxon in leaf shape and colour. Similar to E. bicolor, but more branched. In spite of the different chromosome numbers (E. bicolor n = 21, E. quitensis n = 22), these two species seem to be closely related (Uhl, Haseltonia 12, p. 39, 2006).

2. As stated above, the type of E. quitensis is from Quito, Ecuador. Walther's description of E. quitensis (Echeveria, 287 - 289, 1972) however is from a plant grown from seeds collected in southern Colombia.  That means it is not relevant. This is also true for the short description by M. Kimnach in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, 2003, which is based on Walther.

3. In his revision of genus Echeveria in Ecuador (CSJ US 92(1), 2020) G. Pino reduced the former E. quitensis var. sprucei to a synonym of E. quitensis var. quitensis and created the new var. cuencaensis.

E. quitensis near Papallacta, Ecuador :

E. quitensis près de Papallacta, Equateur :