HALBINGERI   Walther, 1958

Series Urbiniae

Type : Halbinger s.n., said to have come from near Paila, Hidalgo, Mexico. CAS 289374.

Etymology : Named for C. Halbinger, Mexico City.

Distribution : Mexico (Hidalgo: S of Actopán, El Arenal, Cerro de las Canteras; Queretaro, Puente Tepozan; Veracruz).

Description by Reid Moran (of a plant collected by Charles Uhl on limestone cliffs, Puente Tepozan, Quéretaro, 1972. U2125) :

Rosette sessile, ca 6 cm wide, ca 37 leaves, branching very much.

Leaves to 3 cm long, 14 mm wide, 4 – 5 mm thick, cuneate-spatulate, acuminate, ventrally concave in distal half and convex below, dorsally rounded and very faintly keeled, the margins acute in lower half, obtuse above, blue glaucous.

Floral stem 9 cm to inflorescence, 2.5 mm thick, pinkish, glaucous, bare in lower 2 cm, with 11 bracts, elliptic, acute acute-spurred, to ca 1 cm long, withering soon.

Inflorescence one cincinnus 5 cm long, 5 flowers, pedicels ca 10 mm long, nearly 1 mm thick below, thicker upward.

Calyx disk 3.5 mm wide, the sepals ascending-spreading, markedly unequal, the smallest triangular, ca 2.5 x 3.5 mm, the largest elliptic, ca 5.5 x 2.5 mm. 

Corolla 12 mm long, 7 mm wide at base, 5 mm wide at narrowest, and 8 mm wide at outcurved tips, pink outside, yellow within, pentalateral with sides ± flattened; petals 4.5 mm wide, lanceolate, acute.

 Flowering time : July.

Cytology : n = 62

Distributed by ISI n° 168 (1959) : Text is not correct : The plant offered was of unknown origin.

Link to a French description.

Note :

1. Walther's description is made from plants of unknown origin, i.e. it is unusable. Therefore it is replaced here with a the description by Reid Moran of a plant with known origin. 

2. The plants commonly encountered with this name do not correspond exactly with this description - they are far from being stemless ! Whether they can be regarded as E. halbingeri nevertheless is unclear.