x meyerheimii Bolle, 1859

Par: Aeonium glandulosum  (Aiton) Webb & Berthel. × Aeonium glutinosum  (Aiton) Webb & Berthel.

Aeonium ×meyerheimii  Bolle, Addenda Atlantidis, praecipue insularum Canariensium Gorgadumque, Bonplandia 7: 239. 1859 pro sp.

Sempervivum ×meyerheimii  (Bolle) R.P.Murray, Canarian and Madeiran Crassulaceae, Journal of Botany 37: 203. 1899 pro sp.

Heterotypic syn:  Aeonium ×lowei  Bramwell & G.D.Rowley, in Jacobsen & Rowley, Some name changes in succulent plants, Part V, National Cactus and Succulent Journal 28(1): 5. (Mar) 1973.

Etym: Named for Claus Paul Meyerheim ( -1859), the young artist who drew this plant for the author before dying prematurely on 19 Jul 1859.

T: Madeira, among rocks in full sun not far from the town of Funchal; autumn 1856, Claus Nicola Krohn.

HT: B.

Description (according to R. P. Murray, 1899) :

"In 1859 Bolle described, under the name of Aeonium meyerheimii, a Sempervivum from Madeira .... In June, 1895, I found a few plants, which I think may belong to it ; at least the single root which I was able to coax into flower answers fairly well to his description, as does also the locality ..... I believe that they were of hybrid origin (S. glandulosum x glutinosum), and that they do not constitue a distinct species. The inflorescence is quite that of S. glandulosum Ait., while the leaves are much nearer those of S. glutinosum Ait., and do not form a flat rosette as in S. glandulosum. The ciliae, which are nearly as broad as long, and transparent, also agree with those of S. glutinosum. The few plants which I saw all grew close together, and both the supposed parents are exceedingly common in Madeira. I should add that the peculiar and (from a collecting point of view) most unpleasant viscidity of S. glutinosum was entirely absent."

See also : The Crassulaceae of Madeira by Marco Cristini