Monanthes

x tilophila   (Bolle) Christ, 1888

Synonyms :

Monanthes tilophila  (Bolle) Christ ('tilophilum') (1888)

Petrophyes tilophila Bolle (1859)

Monanthes brachycaulos x M. laxiflora  Praeger (1929)

Parentage : Monanthes brachycaulos  (Webb & Berthelot) x M. laxiflora  (DC) Bolle ex Bornmüller.

Lectotype : Gran Canaria, Barranco de los Tiles, 6.5.1855, anon. in Bourgeau, schedae ad 'Pl. Canarienses' (sec. itin.) sine no.

Distribution : Canary Islands : Gran Canaria, Tenerife, in several places on each island, with the parents.

 

Description by Praeger, Semperviva of the Canary Islands area  in Proc. Roy. Irish  Acad. Sect. B, 29: 491 (1929) of the form occurring on Gran Canaria :

"Ramosus, ramis foliosis e basi repente adscendentibus vel erectis.

Caudex non bolboideus.

Folia sparsa vel subrosulata, alterna, plurima, oblanceolata vel obovata, basi cuneata vel rhomboideo-elliptica, purpurea, magnitudine inter parentes media, 9 - 12 mm long, 4 - 6 mm lata, 2 - 4 mm crassa, supra plana vel concava, subtus convexa, apice obtusa vel subobtusa.

Ramuli floriferi unici, terminales, omnino foliosi (ut in laxiflora), vel 2 - 6, axillares, parte inferiore nudi (ut in brachycaulos).

Racemi 4-6-flori, simplices, nudi.

Flores intermedii.

Fl. April - May."

 

Description, also by Praeger, in An account of the Sempervivum Group, 229 (1932) :

"Intermediate between the parents.

Caudex not bolboid.

Branches erect or ascending from a creeping base, leafy.

Leaves scattered or subrosulate, alternate, very many, oblanceolate to obovoid with a cuneate base, or rhomboidal-elliptic, purplish, 9 - 12 mm long, 4 - 6 mm broad, 2 - 4 mm thick, flat or concave on face, convex on back, blunt at apex.

Flowering branches solitary, terminal, leafy throughout the stem (as in laxiflora), or 2 - 6, axillary, without leaves in the lower part (as in brachycaulos).

Racemes 4- to 6-flowered, simple, leafless.

Flowers intermediate."

 

Praeger : "The hybrid is variable, since the parents are also so. The Gran Canaria plant (Bolle's tilophila) has for parents the very robust form of M. brachycaulos characteristic of that island - in some cases probably fa ramosa - and also a robust form of M. laxiflora. The hybrid is correspondingly robust, and forms a vigorous clump or mat.

On Tenerife, in presence of smaller and normal forms of the parents, the hybrid also is a smaller neater plant.

On both island plants may be found bearing both the axillary flowering shoots of brachycaulos with a dense subrosette of leaves, and the terminal almost leafless ones of laxiflora. But neither the bulbous rootstock of brachycaulos nor the opposite arrangement of the leaves of laxiflora appears to be carried into the hybrid. Forms nearer one or other parent are not infrequent, pointing to secondary crossing."

 

Note :

As the list of synonyms indicates, this hybrid was first published as a species occurring on Gran Canaria.

 

Two nothovarieties :

Monanthes x tilophila nothovar. tilophila

Monanthes x tilophila nothovar. chamorgensis Heath 1992

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