CHICLENSIS var. BACKEBERGII (von Poellnitz) Pino, 2002

First Description by von Poellnitz in Fedde's Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis 38: 185. 1935 (in German).

Synonyms :

Echeveria backebergii  von Poellnitz (1935) / Echeveria chiclensis fa backebergii  (von Poellnitz) Kimnach (1998)

 

Neotype : Kimnach et al 2901. 1 km SW of Matucana, 1984.

Etymology : Named for Curt Backeberg who had collected the plant.

Distribution: Peru (only known from the Department of Lima), 2000 - 2800 m.

Description by Pino in Haseltonia 9: 56. 2002 :

A succulent herb with usually a single rosette, entirely covered with minute, transparent, erect cylindrical papillae 0.08 - 0.12 mm long and 0.05 - 0.06 mm thick arranged in rows parallel to the longitudinal axis of leaves and bracts.

Roots 3 - 18, tuberous, 0.4 - 0.8 cm thick, 3 - 8 cm long.

Stem lacking.

Rosette 10 - 15 cm wide, with 12 - 23 leaves.

Leaves sessile, decumbent, then incurving or parallel to ground, lanceolate when young, later linear-oblong, 4.5 - 7 (-9) cm long, 1.1 - 1.4 cm wide 3 cm from apex, 1.2 - 1.8 cm wide at middle, 0.6 - 1.0 cm wide at base, 2.5 - 4 mm thick, acute, upper surface concave to flat, light greyish green, lower surface convex, greyish green, with an obtuse keel, margins rough, whitish.

Flowering stems 1 (or 2), 16 - 32 cm long, 3.5 - 4.5 mm thick at the base, 2 - 3 mm thick at apex, greyish green at base, reddish towards apex. Peduncular bracts 15 - 20, linear-lanceolate, 1.5 - 3 cm long, 6 - 8 wide, 3 - 5 mm thick, crowded at the base and sometimes producing vegetative offsets. Pedicels 0.6 - 0.9 cm long, 1 - 1.5 mm thick, with 1 lanceolate, acute bracteole 10 - 12 mm long and 2.5 - 3.5 mm wide.

Flowers 8 - 13 in each inflorescence. Calyx lobes united at the base, erect, lanceolate, acute, 5 - 7 mm long, 2 - 3 mm wide, greyish green. Corolla ovoid, pentagonal, 6 - 8 mm wide, petals oblong, acuminate, 1.2 - 1.4 cm long, 3 - 4 mm wide, outer surface red at base, yellow at apex, sometimes entirely yellow, inside yellowish......

Flowering time from November to April.

Note :

1. E. chiclensis var. backebergii differs from var. chiclensis by leaves and inflorescences which are densely and conspicuously long-papillose. Plants near Matucana are so papillose that they glisten in sunlight.

2. The distribution areas of E. chiclensis var. chiclensis and var. backebergii are clearly separated and do not overlap. While var. backebergii is growing from ca 2300 - 2700 m, var. chiclensis is occurring only above 3300.

3. Walther's re-description of E. backebergii Poelln. (Echeveria, 352-353, 1972) was "from living plant grown by Mr. V. Reiter, Jr., perhaps from Backeberg seed". However 10 lines below this information we are told : "Mr. Reiter's plant grown from Blossfeld seed, first flowered in 1937". As a matter of course this description of a plant with no precise origin is completely useless.