RACEMOSA var. RACEMOSA (engl./ fr.)

Synonyms :

Echeveria lurida  Haworth (1831) / Cotyledon lurida  (Haworth) Baker (1869)

Type : Schiede 520, collected around 1828 at Jalapa, Veracruz.

Etymology : for the shape of the inflorescence.

Distribution : Mexico (Veracruz : Xalapa).

Description :

Stem < 5 cm long, 1 – 1.5 cm in diameter, sparsely branching.

Leaves rosulate, narrowly oblong-oblanceolate, acute, 5 – 10 x 1,5 – 2,5 cm, upper face deeply concave, margins cartilaginous, green to reddish brown, slightly glaucous.

Inflorescences racemes 30 – 50 cm, bracts easily detached, pedicels 4- 10 mm.

Flowers : Sepals widely spreading to reflexed, the longest < 5mm; corolla conoid-urceolate, 9 – 15 mm long, bright red or orange red.

Cytology : n = 18.

Note :

1. The plant Haworth described as E. lurida in 1831 originated in the botanical garden of Berlin. Haworth apparently ignored that it had already been described as E. racemosa by Schlechtendal & Chamisso in the previous year - i.e. Echeveria lurida and E. racemosa are identical. Pretended wild localities for E. lurida therefore always concern  E. racemosa which may be more widespread than commonly thought; and pretended differences between E. racemosa and so-called E. lurida either reflect the variability of the former or are due to a misidentification of the latter.

2. The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants (2003) cites Echeveria lucida Steudel (1840) as a synonym of E. racemosa. This is wrong twofold :

1. Steudel wrote : Echeveria lucida Haworth (not Steudel) and

2. ’lucida’ is simply a misspelling of ‘lurida’.

There is no Echeveria lucida Steudel.

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Synonymes :

Echeveria lurida  Haworth (1831) / Cotyledon lurida (Haworth) Baker (1869).

Distribution : Mexique (Veracruz : Jalapa).

Description :

Tige < 5 cm de long, 1 – 1,5 cm de diamètre, modérément ramifiée.

Feuilles en rosette, étroitement oblongues-oblancéolées, aiguës, 5 – 10 x 1,5 – 2,5 cm, dessus profondément concave, marges cartilagineuses, vertes à marron rougeâtres, légèrement glauques.

Inflorescence en racème de 30 – 50 cm, bractées se détachant facilement, pédicelles de 4- 10 mm.

Fleurs : Sépales largement écartés à recourbés, les plus longs < 5mm ; corolle conique-urcéolée, 9 – 15 mm de long, rouge vif ou orange-rouge.

Cytologie : n = 18.