SETOSA var. MINOR  Moran, 1993 (engl./ fr.)

Series Ciliatae

Type : Hans Fittkau s.n., upper NE side of Tepelmeme volcano, ca 2'200 ? m, near Tepelmeme de Morelos, Sierra Mixteca, Oaxaca.

Distribution : Mexico (Oaxaca : Sierra Mixteca, near Tepelmeme de Morelos)

Description by Reid Moran :

Caudex ± 4 mm thick, with densely hirsute stolons  ± 2 cm long and 1mm thick.

Rosettes 4.5 – 7 cm wide, of 35 – 50 crowded leaves.

Leaves ± 3 times longer than wide, cuneate-spatulate or -oblanceolate, subacute becoming obtuse, 2  - 3 cm long, 7 – 10 mm wide above, 2 – 4 mm wide at base, 3 – 4 mm thick, hirsute somewhat retrorsely on upper ¾ and lower on margins, with nearly straight slightly tapering whitish multicellular trichomes 1 - 2 mm long and ± 0.04 mm thick, with cells ± as long as thick, not on every epidermal cell.

Floral stems 9 – 19 cm tall, 2 - 3 mm thick, reddish, hirsute, with 12 – 20 leaves, the leaves oblanceolate, acute, short spurred, 5 – 18 mm long, 2 – 5 mm wide, 1 – 4 mm thick, hirsute above but glabrous ventrally in lower half to sometimes throughout and dorsally only near base to sometimes through lower 2/3.

Cincinni 4 – 12-flowered, the pedicels hirsute, the lower 5 – 10 mm long, 1.5 mm thick.

Calyx disk 4 – 5 mm wide, the segments ascending, unequal, ellipitic, acute, 4 – 8 mm long, 2 – 4 mm wide, hirsute.

Corolla 11 – 12 mm long, 8 – 9 mm thick, hirsute, with trichomes shorter upward towards the glabrous tips.

Filaments ± 5 mm long, the epipetalous ± 0.6 mm wide, nectar glands 1.5 mm wide, gynoecium 7 mm high, 5 mm thick, tapering into red-tipped styles ± 3 mm long.

Cytology : n = 25.

Note :

1.  Apart from the much bigger size of the rosette, the plant circulating as E. setosa FO-42 agrees with the above description, i.e. its correct name is E. setosa var. minor.

2. Actually FO-42 is the type of E. setosa var. deminuta. The fact that Otero used the same number for plants now considered to be E. setosa var. minor suggests that these two varieties are the extremes of one very variable population.

3. E. setosa var. minor is hardy in wet cold conditions to at least -5° C.

Link to a summary of the above description in French.