FRUTICOSA   Pino, 2018

Series Racemosae

Type : Pino 1700, collected in a shaded gorge with a small stream, hanging from the clayish walls, road from Canta to Huaros, 1 km before the town, Dist. Huaros, Prov. Canta, Dept. Lima, Peru.

Etymology : The name "fruticosa" refers to its appearance like a small shrub - "frutex" in Latin - due to its tendency to form conspicuous stems, a character evident even in small plants.

Distribution :To this date only found in the Chillón River valley and scattered in its adjacent river basins (Rimac River valley and Chancay River valley), being abundant only near the type locality in Huaros.

A summary of Pino's description :

Glabrous plant with conspicuous stems.

Stems simple or branched, at first erect, later decumbent or procumbent, with constrictions caused by annual growth, up to 45 cm long or more in very old plants.

Rosettes 12 - 15 cm in diameter.

Leaves 12 - 16, narrowly rhomboid obovate, 5.5 - 12 cm long, 1.5 - 4.2 cm wide at widest part at middle, 4 - 6 mm thick, upper side concave to canaliculate, mucronate, colour in dry period light blue to light glaucous green, tinged light purplish, in rainy period bright or greenish-white near base, dark reddish at tips.

Flowering stem 30 - 45 (-60) cm long, light green to pink, bracts numerous, soon deciduous, 2 - 6 x 0.8 - 2 cm, oblong to lanceolate, acute to mucronate, flowers up to 20, pedicels short (1 - 7 mm).

Flowers : Sepals unequal, speading in right angle or erect, 7 - 10 x 4 - 4.5 mm, corolla urceolate, petals 1.7 - 2.4 cm long, apex slightly recurved, light green when shaded, becoming entire reddish when exposed, inside light  green to yellowish.

Flowering time from April to June.

Note :

1. E. fruticosa differs from all other Peruvian echeverias in its conspicuous erect or sometimes hanging   stems, branching generally from the base.

2. In the past E. fruticosa was mistaken for E. chiclensis var. chiclensis.

First published in Cactus & Succulent Journal US  90(3): 174-179, 2018.