CHAZAROI  Kimnach, 1995  (engl./ fr.)

Series Racemosae

Type : Kimnach 3327, Oaxaca, Dist. Juxtlahuaca, between 10 and 14 km SW of San Sebastián Tecomaxtlahuaca, ca 2100 m, Feb. 6, 1993.

Etymology : Named for Miguel Cházaro.

Distribution : Mexico (Oaxaca)

First Description by Kimnach in Cactus and Succulent Journal US 67 (2): 81-85. 1995 :

Plant entirely glabrous, usually single, nearly stemless.

Rosette 4 - 7 cm tall, 6 - 8 cm wide, with 20 - 40 leaves.

Stem to 3 cm tall or more, 8 - 12 mm thick.

Younger leaves nearly erect, diverging from central axis by only 1 - 3 cm, older leaves at right angles to stem or slightly reflexed, leaf- shape obovate, sometimes cuspidate but more often not, deeply concave on upper face, strongly convex and inconspicuously keeled on lower face, in side view sigmoid with apical 1 - 2 cm slightly recurving, 3 - 5 cm long, 1.5 - 2 cm wide at widest part 1 - 1.5 cm below apex, 6 - 10 mm wide at base, the margins weakly to strongly erose and minutely undulate and forming a light blue-green band 1.5 - 2 mmm wide, remainder of leaf darker bluish green, slightly glaucous, reddish near base.

Flowering stem usually single, erect to leaning, racemose, (30-) 45 (-50) cm long or more, peduncle ca 20 - 25 cm long, ca 4 mm thick near base, 3 mm thick just below lowest flower, brownish magenta, slightly glaucous, with ca 17 bracts that are spaced ca 1 - 1.5 cm apart, ascending-expanding, the lower ones obovate to obovate-oblong, the upper ones obovate, with a basal spur 1 - 2 mm long, all resembling the leaves in being variably undulate, erose and with a white marginal zone, 2 - 3 cm long, 6 - 9 mm wide, coloured as the leaves but somewhat reddened apically and along margins.

Inflorescence 15 - 30 cm long, the rachis 2 - 3 mm thick, coloured like the peduncle, the bracts erect, the apices incurving, narrowly obovate, 10 - 15 mm long, 4 - 5 mm wide, pedicels equilaterally inserted on rachis but curving toward the light, at right angles to rachis or downcurving, 2 - 6 mm long, ca 1 mm thick, reddish, each with 2 minute linear acute bracteoles 1.5 - 2 mm long and less than 0.5 mm wide.

Flowers single, usually directed downwards at a 45° angle, calyx disk ca  3 mm wide, the sepals expanding nearly to a right angle, ovate-oblong, acute, minutely cuspidate, convex on both sides, almost equal, 3 - 5 mm long, ca 1.5 mm wide near base, ca 1 mm thick near middle, bluish grey, slightly reddened along margins and at apex, corolla usually directed downwards at a 45° angle, 7 - 9 mm long, 5 - 6 mm thick near base, 4 - 5 mm thick just below apex, recurving slightly at apex, the opening ca 4 mm wide at middle, obscurely keeled on outer face.

Link to a summary of the above description in English and French.

Note :

E. chazaroi is closely allied to E. helmutiana, growing only some 10 km distant from the latter. The flowering parts are very similar, however the leaves are very different. E. helmutiana has highly succulent and green or strongly reddened, non-glaucous leaves with a straight smooth margin, while the leaves of E. chazaroi are much less succulent and resemble more closely those of E. megacalyx - the leaf margins are more or less crispate, bluish green and with a translucent, minutely erose, whitish border.