MAXONII Rose, 1909  (engl./ fr.)

Series Nudae

Type : Maxon 3406, Guatemala, Dept. Baja Vera Paz, Chuacús, between Salamá and Las Canoas, January 22, 1905. (US 473390)

Etymology : Named for William R. Maxon, who had collected the plant. 

Distribution : Guatemala (Dept. Quetzaltenango, Sololá, Zacapa, Baja Vera Paz, El Progreso, Totonicapán);  Honduras (Dept. Francesco Morazán) according to Kimnach in IHSP, 2003.

First Description by Rose in Contributions from the US National Herbarium 12: 395. 1909 :

Stems glabrous, frutescent, at first erect, becoming decumbent, 60 - 80 cm long, naked below, very leafy near tips.

Leaves on young or slowly growing plants massed near the top but in vigorous shoots rather distant, standing at right angles to the stem, 3 - 10 cm long, spatulate, narrowed at base into a more or less definite petiole, rounded below, decidedly trowel-shaped above, obtuse or acutish, green on the under surface, not at all glaucous, the margins more or less purplish.

Inflorescence an equilateral raceme or sometimes becoming a narrow panicle, peduncle elongate, 20 - 30 cm long, leafy (in our herbarium specimens often naked).

Flowers : Sepals distinct, semiterete, acute, glaucous, unequal, spreading with age, petals distinct nearly to the base, erect except the tips, these spreading, salmon-pink in color, stamens 10, scales white.

Cytology : n = 26

Link to a short description by M. Kimnach in English and French.

Note :

1. Walther's re-description of E. maxonii is "based on living plants from Dr. Rose, presumably clonotypes" - however he describes the leaves as "minutely papillose" - a feature neither mentioned in the protologue nor in Standley & Steyermark's Flora of Guatemala, 1946. So the identity of Walther's plants is doubtful and his re-description is rather useless.

2. Pilbeam, The genus Echeveria, p. 168, shows a scan by M. Kimnach of E. maxonii. Fig. 211 on the preceding page, a photo by W. Weightman, shows an entirely different plant which Pilbeam does not hesitate to call E. maxonii, too. Cleary an imposter.