Rapunzel

Parentage : Cremnophila nutans x Echeveria tencho

A hybrid by Charles Uhl.

For many years, a plant has been circulating in Australia as “Echeveria rosea x Sedum nutans.” The latter is an illegitimate name, the correct name is Sedum cremnophila - or even more correctly Cremnophila nutans.

In Charles Uhl’s article "Chromosomes and Hybrids of Echeveria Series Spicatae" in Haseltonia 2005, no hybrid of Echeveria rosea with Cremnophila nutans is mentioned, however there is an illustration of a hybrid of Cremnophila nutans x Echeveria tencho.

E. tencho is in many respects similar to E. rosea and has long been considered to be a form of the latter with shorter and less colourful sepals. However chromosome counts revealed that the two plants were not closely related and therefore this putative "form" was described and published as E. tencho.

So most probably the Australian "Echeveria rosea x Sedum nutans" is in fact the hybrid of Cremnophila nutans x Echeveria tencho.

This hybrid blooms in winter, at the same time as xCremneria ‘Weingartiana’, with similar nodding inflorescences, but sometimes inflorescences can be upright and at least 45 cm tall. The rosette is of similar size as that of xC. 'Weingartiana'( to 20 cm across), however the leaves (to 10 cm x 3.5 cm) are more pointed and thinner. E. tencho is a medium sized species with rosettes to 12 cm across. Its chromosome number is n = 51, that of Cremnophila nutans is only n = 33. Therefore it is not surprising that regarding leaf shape and colour of leaves and flowers the hybrid is more resembling its pollen parent.