LINGUIFOLIA   (Lemaire) Moran, 1975  (engl./ fr.)

Synonyms :

Echeveria linguifolia  Lemaire (1863) / Cotyledon linguifolia  (Lemaire) Baker (1869)

Anacampseros linguifolia  Hort. ex Lemaire (1863)

Talinum linguiforme  Hort. ex Lemaire  (1863)

Pachyphytum lingua  Hort. ex Morren (1874)

Cremnophila tlahuicana  Reyes et al., 2015 - see Note below.

Type (Neotype) : Plate 58 in Sauders' Refugium Botanicum, 1869.

Distribution : Mexico (México : Malinalco, Mexicapa) ; ca 1900 m.

E. linguaefolia was described (in French) by Charles Lemaire in 1863 from a plant in cultivation in Belgium, origin unknown (Histoire, especes et culture du genre Echeveria. Ill. Hort. 10, misc.: 81, no. 20, 1863) - see below. This is a more recent 

Description by R. Moran, CSJ US 50, 1978 :

Caudex to 1 m or more long, 1 - 2.5 cm thick, green becoming brown, the leaf sites oval, ca. 10 - 12 mm wide and 7 - 9 mm high, the attachment scar elliptic, brown, ca. 5 - 7 mm wide and 1 - 2 mm high.

Rosettes lax, 6 - 17 cm wide, of 15 - 25 leaves or the leaves sometimes as many as 40 and scattered over as much as 2.5 dm of caudex.

Leaves green and not glaucous, obovate or obovate-cuneate to oblong-spatulate, rounded to obtuse, 4 - 9 cm long, 1.5 - 5.5 cm wide, 7 - 14 mm thick, flattish to slightly concave ventrally, convex to rounded dorsally, in some faintly keeled, the base 8 - 13 mm wide, 6 - 12 mm thick.

Floral stems first appearing May to July, flowering between December and May, light green, 1.5 - 3.5 (-5.5) dm long (including inflorescence), the peduncle stiff, ascending to deflexed, 1 - 2.5 (-4) dm long, 5 - 11 mm thick at base, with 4 - 20 leaves; leaves somewhat ascending, elliptic-oblong, obtuse to rounded, 1.5 - 3.5 cm long, 8 - 19 mm wide, 4 - 12 mm thick, convex ventrally, rounded dorsally.

Thyrse flexible, pendent, glaucous, 6 - 16 cm long, 3 - 6 cm wide, of ca 20 - 70 flowers, the branches 15 - 35, the upper ones and often a few lowermost one-flowered, the rest cincinni of 2 - 5 flowers each, somewhat circinate. Pedicels 2 - 4 (in solitary and terminal flowers -10) mm long, 1 - 2 mm thick.

Flowers : Calyx 6 - 13 mm long, 4.5 - 9 mm wide, the disk ca 4 - 6 mm wide, the sepals erect, somewhat unequal, triangular-lanceolate, rounded to subacute, 4 - 12 mm long, 1.5 - 5 mm wide, very slightly imbricate in young buds but soon open, the sinuses narrowly V-shaped with sides parallel above, closed after anthesis. Corolla white or greenish, pentagonal with ± flat sides, 6 - 11 mm long, 4 - 7 mm wide, the petals nearly distinct though slightly united by the adnate filaments, erect, triangular-lanceolate, acute, keeled, 2 - 4 mm wide, in bud induplicate-valvate in lower two-thirds, imbricate above. Filaments greenish white, 5 - 8 mm long, ca. 0.7 mm wide at base, the epipetalous adnate ca 1 mm, the antesepalous ca 0.5 mm; anthers light yellow, ovoid, apiculate, ca 1.5 mm long. Nectar glands yellowish green, appressed against the pistils, ca 1.5 mm wide and 0.4 mm high. 

Cytology : n = 33

Note :

1. Walther's description in Echeveria, 62-66, 1972, is worthless because made from plants without known origin.

2. Regarding Cremnophila tlahuicana : This is not a new species of genus Cremnophila, but simply a re-description of C. linguifolia, as is explained here :  Alas, no new species in genus Cremnophila !

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Synonymes : 

Echeveria linguifolia  Lemaire (1863) / Cotyledon linguifolia  (Lemaire) Baker (1869)

Anacampseros linguifolia  Hort. ex Lemaire (1863)

Talinum linguiforme  Hort. ex Lemaire  (1863)

Pachyphytum lingua  Hort. ex Morren (1874)

Distribution : Mexique (México : Malinalco, Mexicapa) ; vers 1900 m.

Description (selon R. Moran dans IHSP, 2003) :

Tige jusqu'à 1m et plus, 1 – 2,5 cm de diamètre.  

Rosette 6 – 17 cm de diamètre avec 15 – 25 feuilles.

Feuilles cunées-obovales à oblongues, arrondies ou obtuses, 4 – 9 x 1,5 – 5,5 cm.

Inflorescence 15 – 55 cm.

Fleurs : Sépales 4 – 12 x 1,5 – 5 mm, pétales droits, blancs ou verdâtres, 6 – 11 x 2 – 4 mm, indupliqués et ne se chevauchant pas.

Cytologie : n = 33