Sempervivum

RUTHENICUM  Koch ex Schnittspahn & Lehmann, 1855

Synonyms :

Sempervivum globiferum ssp. ruthenicum  Koch (1844) / Sempervivum wulfenii ssp. ruthenicum  (Schnittspahn & Lehmann) Stojanov & Stefanoff (1924)

* Sempervivum zeleborii  Schott (1857)

Sempervivum cappadocicum  Boissier (1872)

Sempervivum arenarium  Steven ex Baker (1874) (nom illeg., Art. 53.1)

Section Sempervivum

Distribution : NC Romania, N Moldavia, Ukraine, SW Russia; sands and sandy soils, dry places, mostly in the lowland, sometimes in pine forests.

Description (according to 't Hart, Bleij & Zonneveld in IHSP, 2003) :

Very shortly pubescent, hairs ± 0.2 mm.

Rosettes closed or open, 4 - 8 cm in diameter.

Stolons 3 - 5 cm.

Leaves oblong-obovate to obovate-cuneate, shortly apiculate or acuminate, ± 50 x 15 mm, densely pubescent, green, the marginal cilia rather stiff.

Flowering branches 15 - 30 cm, leaves ± remote and oblong-lanceolate.

Inflorescences laxly corymbiform, bracts linear, acuminate, pubescent, pedicels 1 - 5 mm.

Flowers 12- to 16- merous, sepals basally connate, oblong-ovate or narrowly lanceolate, green, 3 - 4 mm, petals linear to linear-lanceolate, acuminate, greenish-yellow, tinged with purple at the base, ± 10 x 1.5 mm, filaments white to pink, anthers yellow.

Cytology : 2n = 64

* In Flora Hellenica, 2002, 't Hart included S. zeleborii in S. ruthenicum. Why this has not been followed by Bleij & Zonneveld in IHSP, 2003, is not plausible. 

See also : Alan Smith, The Genus Sempervivum and Jovibarba, 1980

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