ACUTIFOLIA   Lindley, 1842  (engl./ fr.)

NOT IN CULTIVATION. MOST LIKELY A HYBRID > Echeveria 'Acutifolia'

Synonym : Cotyledon acutifolia  (Lindley) Baker (1869)

Series Gibbiflorae

Type : K.T. Hartweg 749, among the plants found by Mr. Hartweg during a short visit to Oaxaca, possibly from a garden.

Etymology : Referring to the shape of the leaves.

Distribution : Mexico, no definite locality known.

First Description by Lindley in Edwards's Botanical Register, new ser., vol. 5, pl. 29, 1842 :

Caulescent plant.

Leaves in rosettes at the top of the stem, subrhomboid, very acute, upper face concave, compared with E. gibbiflora they are much more green and richly touched with scarlet.

Inflorescence  a short narrow erect cylindrical panicle,  the lateral branches are short, straight, and only bear three or four flowers in a corymbose manner at the end.

Flowers : Sepals acute, much shorter than petal, corolla rich scarlet tinged with yellow.

Note :

1. Regarding the origin of his plant Lindley says that Mr. Hartweg had collected it in Oaxaca - whether he had collected it in the wild or in a garden is unknown. No similar plant has since been found in Mexico, so in the absence of a locality for it in the wild it may well have been a hybrid and should bear a cultivar name > Echeveria 'Acutifolia'.

2. Under the heading “Echeveria acutifolia Lindley” Walther (Echeveria, 203-204, 1972) published the description of a plant cultivated at Huntington Botanical Gardens which however had nothing to do with E. acutifolia Lindley. Therefore his description is of course useless.

3. Plants circulating nowadays as Echeveria acutifolia do not agree in any respect with E. acutifolia Lindley; they represent an undescribed species.

4. Neither the flower photo p. 24, fig. 218, in Las Crasuláceas de Mèxico, vol. I, 2003, by Meyrán & Lopez nor the photos p. 39, figs. 1 & 2,  in The genus Echeveria,  2008, by Pilbeam are correct.

Link to the text in French.