STEYERMARKII Standley, 1944
NOT IN CULTIVATION.
Series Gibbiflorae
Type : Steyermark 43145, Guatemala, Dept. Zacapa : On rocks, between Santa Rosalía and San Lorenzo, alt. 1200 - 1600 m, January 24, 1942.
Etymology : Named for the collector Julian A. Steyermark.
Distribution: Guatemala (Solola, San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Zacapa); epiphytic or on rocks, 1300 – 3700 m.
Plants glabrous, acaulescent, solitary or cespitose.
The roots fibrous.
Leaves usually very numerous and forming a dense rosette, spreading or ascending, green, sometimes tinged with pink or purple, narrowly or very broadly oblong-spatulate, 2.5 - 6.5 cm long, 1 - 2 cm wide, rounded or very obtuse at the apex and obtusely short-apiculate, carnose but not very thick, broadly cuneate at the base.
Scapes solitary or few, 5 - 20 cm high, the flowers few, short-racemose or subcorymbose; leaves of the scapes few and inserted near the base or more numerous and continued to the inflorescence, linear or oblong, the largest 2 cm long, obtuse, ascending.
Flowers 3 - 10, long-pedicellate, the pedicels slender, mostly 8 - 15 mm long, the bracts oblong or almost linear, much shorter than the pedicels; sepals unequal, green, fleshy, 5 - 8 mm long, oblong or ovate-oblong, obtuse, appressed or somewhat spreading, petals rose-red or vermilion, 8 - 11 mm long, lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, erect but excurved at the apex, attenuate-acuminate, anthers ca 1.5 mm shorter than the petals, oblong-ovate, follicles 7 - 8 mm long, suberect, long-rostrate, brownish-red.
The plants placed here show a great deal of variation in leaf form but it is believed that all represent a single species. Further collections may possibly show that two or more species are represented but it is believed that all the apparent variations may be explained by moisture and exposure conditions. The corolla is variously described as vermilion throughout, rose-red or with petals reddish yellow edged with vermilion. The leaves may be either grass-green throughout or sometimes paler beneath, and often tinged with red or purple. The species is noteworthy for its small, few-flowered inflorescence and very long pedicels.
Note :
1. E. Walther's description of E. steyermarkii (Echeveria, 163-164, 1972) - only from dried material of various places - is of no use for a better understanding of this species which apparently has never been recollected. The same applies to the short descriptions by Kimnach in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, 2003, based on Walther.
2. The photos published by Pilbeam in The genus Echeveria, 264, figs. 376 & 377, 2006, by Charles Uhl, are not correctly captioned and thus are misleading. Uhl did not consider this plant to be the true E. steyermarkii because it differed in several respects from the original description, and he called it E. cf. steyermarkii.
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