Margarete Reppin

Parentage : Graptopetalum filiferum x xGraptoveria 'Titubans'

Created by Max Holmes, Australia


Published in Cactus & Succulent J., (Woollahra) 21 (2) : 26-27, 1997.

I have been doing a few experiments with xGraptoveria crosses, using either Graptopetalum filiferum or xGraptoveria ‘Titubans’ as a parent. The former plant produces hybrids with very attractive leaf shapes, and the latter one produces very robust hybrids. I was a little surprised to find that the xGraptoveria is freely fertile - often each intergeneric hybrids are just about sterile.

The plant I am describing in this issue is a cross between the two, with ‘Titubans’ being the seed parent, and I have decided to call it xGraptoveria ‘Margarete Reppin’. It is a very robust plant, branching freely, and tolerant of either sun or shade, and a little trial and error will soon show the best position for you. The rosettes are about 9cm wide, with many leaves densely packed, each tipped with a slender point, giving the plant a classic beauty. The leaves are pale jade green, with whitish edges, and slightly glossy. It flowers in spring, with an inflorescence of so many flowers that the flower stems bend under the weight. The flowers are quite colourful, looking starry like a Graptopetalum, and with the reddish brown spots of that genus, but the centre of the flowers is slightly yellow, inherited from Echeveria derenbergii, which is one of the parents of 'Titubans'.

'Margarete Reppin' is easily propagated from leaves or rosettes, and is quite tough, inheriting none of the touchiness of G. filiferum. It is one of the few Echeveria-type succulents which withstood a dreadful, week-long heat wave in my area at the end of last summer without marking.

I have decided to name this attractive hybrid in memory of Mrs Margarete Reppin, an Adelaide collector who passed away in 1995. Margarete had the happy knack of being able to grow plants which many others were not brave enough to try, and visitors usually left her home with a gift of some interesting succulent. Many collectors in South Australia have at least one plant in their collection which came from Margarete. We all pronounced her name "Margaret, despite the final "e".

Max Holmes, Strathalbyn, S.A.