VANVLIETII   van Keppel, 1969

REINSTATED AS A DISTINCT SPECIES

Series Racemosae

Type : Van Vliet No.5 (van Keppel No. 6849), collected north-east of Yamparaez, ca 12 km SE of Sucre at 2800 m elevation on steep slopes 19/5/1968.

Etymology : Named for the collector of the plant Dirk van Vliet.

Distribution : Watershed area between Sucre and Yamparaez and on the mountain Chica Chica in the Bolivian Department Chuquisaca.

First Description by van Keppel in Nat. Cact. & Succ. Journal of Great Britain 24(4) : 90. 1969 :

Habit caulescent.

Stem short, 5 cm long or more, 1 – 2 cm thick, erect, sometimes decumbent, with a dense rosette on the top 8 – 12 cm in diameter.

Leaves fleshy, 20 – 25, spreading, oblong-oblanceolate, 4 – 8 cm long, 1 – 2 cm broad, older leaves flat, younger leaves deltoid, on the upper part deeply channelled, mucronate, apiculate, backside convex, somewhat keeled, colour pale grey-green flushed bronze purplish, edges paler, seldom reddish.

Floral stems 20 – 40 cm long, erect from the beginning, greenish-white, 5 mm broad at base, inflorescence part a single, equilateral raceme 10 – 20 cm long with 15 – 20 horizontally spreading leaves below, the largest 2.5 cm long, 1 cm broad, the lowest ovate, next oblanceolate  and the floral bracts awl-shaped, green with a broad or slender recurved white spur, the largest obtuse, the smaller mucronate.

Flowers 15 – 40, nodding, later erect, on green pedicels 5 – 10 mm long, 2 mm thick with 2 filmy, linear bracteoles, buds yellowish on the top and keel of the petals, sepals widespreading at anthesis, later ascending, 5 – 10 mm long, unequally ovate-deltoid, corolla creamy white, petals ca 12 mm long, 4 mm wide at base, pentagonal, tips curving outwards, keeled dorsally, carpels green, seeds dark brown.

Flowering time July to October.

Cytology : n = 120.

Note : 

Failing to consult the description of E. chilonensis (Kuntze) Walther Kimnach (Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, 2003) erroneously included E. vanvlietii van Keppel in E. chilonensis (Kuntze) Walther. However these are two quite different species : E. vanvlietii is a white flowered species of medium size while E. chilonensis is a small species with yellow flowers. . This is corrected here by reinstating E. vanvlietii as a distinct species :

E. vanvlietii is the correct name for the white flowered Bolivian Echeveria species hitherto wrongly called E. chilonensis.