HUMILIS   J.N. Rose, 1903

Synonyms : 

Echeveria humilis var. angustifolia  Walther (1958) nom. nud. (in sched.)

Echeveria angustifolia  Walther (1972) - see Note below.

Series Urbiniae

Type : Parry & Palmer 233. Collected 1878 in the region of San Luis Potosí, 22°N, 6000 - 8000 ft. US 48363.

Etymology : Latin adjective meaning low-growing. 

Distribution : Mexico (Hidalgo, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi).

First Description by Rose in Bulletin of the New York Botanical Garden 3:8. 1903.

Acaulescent or with a short woody caudex, glabrous throughout.

Basal leaves in a dense rosette, thickish, lanceolate, acute, 5 - 6 cm long.

Flowering stems about 10 cm long, rather weak, leafy below, inflorescence a few-flowered secund raceme, sometimes paniculately branched, pedicels 2 - 3 mm long, bractless.

Flowers : Sepals lanceolate, very unequal, the longer 4 - 5 mm long, acute, corolla 8 - 9 mm long, its segments united for about one fourth  their length.

Cytology : n = 32

Note :

1. Walther's concept of E. humilis was based on misidentified plants circulating in California - clearly differing from E. humilis as described by Rose. Therefore his description is of no use at all (Echeveria, 1972). This applies also to the respective summary by M. Kimnach in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, 2003.

2. The herbarium specimen Walther used for his description of E. angustifolia was originally identified as E. humilis - presumably by J.N. Rose himself. The respective plant had been collected by J.A. Purpus in 1905 in San Luis Potosí, in the same region as the type of E. humilis.

The reason why Walther converted this clone of E. humilis to his new species E. angustifolia is simple : His concept of E. humilis was based on misidentified plants circulating in California under the incorrect name of E. humilis. Hence his description of E. angustifolia is a - of course superfluous - re-description of E. humilis. 

PS The ISI 1986 offering "Echeveria angustifolia aff." has later been identified as E. unguiculata.