Echeveria elegans var. kesselringiana

REINSTATED AS A VARIETY OF ECHEVERIA ELEGANS.

Published in Crassulacea No. 5, 29. Sept. 2017.

Type : Ritter 532, type locality unknown.

First Description by von Poellnitz in Fedde's Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis 39: 239. 1936:

Blätter dicker, besonders unterseits sehr stark verdickt, am Rande weniger durchscheinend, auch bei Kultupflanzen oft nur 3 cm lang, 1.5 cm breit, 8 mm dick. / Leaves thicker, particularly below very much thickened, margins less translucent, also in cultivated specimens only 3 cm lang, 1.5 cm broad, 8 mm thick.

Stengelblätter bis 8 mm lang. / Bracts to 8 mm long.

Stielchen 7 - 8 mm lang. / Pedicels 7 - 8 mm long.

Kelchzipfel bis 4 mm lang, sehr ungleich, rechtwinklig abstehend oder aufsteigend. / Sepals to 4 mm long, very unequal, spreading at right angle or ascending.

Kronröhre 3 - 4 mm lang. / Corolla tube 3 - 4 mm long.

Note :

1. The wild origin of E. elegans var. kesselringiana is not known, however there is no doubt, that it has a wild origin. It has been described from plants the seeds of which had been collected by F. Ritter and sent to his sister H. Winter in Frankfurt who offered the seed for many years, so it must have become widespread throughout Europe. Therefore the majority of the plants circulating in Europe and having been exported from Europe worldwide have to be re-named : They are not E. albicans Walther but E. elegans var. kesselringiana v. Poellnitz.

2. E. elegans var. kesselringiana is not a synonym of E. albicans as stated by E. Walther in his description of the latter.  The two plants differ not only considerably in size but above all in the shape of the leaves - E. albicans having a distinct slender apiculus, totally absent in E. elegans var. kesselringiana.

3. E. elegans var. kesselringiana differs from E. albicans in

- leaves only up to 3 cm long and 1.5 cm broad / albicans 3 - 5 cm long and 1.5 - 2.5 cm broad and with a distinct slender apiculus, lacking in var. kesselringiana,

- pedicels only 7 - 8 mm long / albicans 14 mm long and

- sepals to only 4 mm long / albicans to 10 mm long.