Basic Literatur

Echeveria unguiculata, a new species from northeastern Mexico

Myron Kimnach

The new species presented here, Echeveria unguiculata (the “clawed“ echeveria), is an attractive and distinctive little plant with purplish-grey leaves ending in a sharp, cylindrical, claw-like tip (Fig. 1). It has been in and out of cultivation for some 33 years but has remained unpublished. I have grown several collections, but it was not until July of 2000 that I was finally able to see flowers. They convinced me that this intriguing species deserves publication: Unlike the turbinate corolla of the other members of series Urbiniae, that of our new species (Fig. 2) is nearly oblong in side view, with nearly straight sides. The most similar-appearing species is Echeveria tolimanensis Matuda, a species from Hidalgo that differs in its slightly less sharp, greyish-green leaves and its turbinate, more angular corolla.

Figure 1. A cultivated plant of Echeveria unguiculata with developing inflorescence. Photo by John Trager.

Echeveria unguiculata Kimnach, sp. nov.

Caulis ad 5 cm altus, parce prolificans, folia sursum curvata, anguste ovato-lanceolata 4-5.5 cm longa 12-15 mm lata 8-10 mm crassa purpureo-grisea, apice pungens. Ramus florens con cincinno unico, pedicellis 6-17 mm longis, corolla oblonga obtuse angulatis pallida aurantiaca. Holotypus: Glass & Foster 2624 (HNT).

Rosette solitary or rarely caespitose. Stem eventually to 5 cm long or more, 10-15 mm thick, brownish. Leaves ca. 30, the younger ones upcurving, the lowest horizontal to slightly deflexed, narrowly ovate-lanceolate, subulate, 4-5.5 cm long, 12-15 mm wide at widest part 2-3 cm below apex, 8-10 mm thick, lower surface convex, not keeled, upper surface flat to slightly convex, not keeled or only slightly so, margins round-ed, apex mucronate, sharp, reddish, rest of leaf purplish grey with a thin whitish bloom.

Flowering stem an unbranched cincinnus to 50 cm long or more, peduncle ca. 7 mm thick near base, ca. 4 mm thick just below inflorescence, pinkish green, glaucous, bracts ascending, narrowly elliptical, subulate, apex sharp, nearly lacking a basal spur, ca. 20 mm long, 7 mm wide and 5 mm thick, colored like the leaves; rachis of inflorescence 10-12 cm long, 2-4 mm thick, bracts 8-15 mm long; flowers ca. 8, pedicels recurving before anthesis, later erect, 6-17 mm long, 1.25-2 mm thick; sepals at right angles to corolla to slightly upcurv-ing, very unequal, shorter ones deltoid, longer ones ovate-deltoid, acute, 2-12 mm long, 2-5 mm wide at base, 2-3 mm thick, colored as the leaves; corolla nearly rectangular in side view, subcylindric, with nearly straight sides, obtusely angled, 15-17 mm long, 8-9 mm thick for nearly entire length; petals linear-lanceolate, acute, the apices erect or only slightly recurving, light salmon-pink, lighter toward base, inner side pinkish white on basal half, orangish yellow on apical half, epipetalous filaments ca. 4.5 mm long, antesepalous filaments ca. 5.5 mm long, all filaments acuminate, ca. 1 mm wide near base, yellow, anthers linear, greenish; gynoecium turbinate, narrowed at base, 10 mm long, 7 mm thick near middle, cream, greenish near apex, styles subulate, ca. 1.5 mm long, greenish; nectaries linear, 3-4 mm wide, .05 mm thick.

Herbarium specimens examined:

MEXICO. San Luis Potosí: Km 86, ca. 68 miles S of Matehuala, 15 miles S of El Huizache junction, May 1970, Huntington B. G. 28346, C. Glass & R. Foster 2624 (HNT, holotype). Tamaulipas: 9 miles SW of Palmillas, Feb. 15, 1971, Huntington B. G. 28347, C. Glass & R. Foster 3230 (HNT, paratype); south of Monterrey, near “Mex 5”, Paul Debbert s.n. (HNT, paratype).

The first collection that I am aware of is Glass & Foster 2624, which, according to Charles Glass in his Mexico Logbook (page 34), he found in May 1970 in San Luis Potosí at "Km 86 (68 miles south of Matehuala, more or less, and about 15 south of Huizache junction), the first easily accessible hill on the west side of the highway south of Huizache." He refers to the plant as "Echeveria sp. aff. tolimanensis, with glaucous purple leaves and thick spines at the tips, more like monkey claws than anything!" Evidently, this collection is no longer in cultivation, but a specimen in the Huntington herbarium is designated below as the holotype.

The second collection, Glass and Foster 3230, was collected February 15, 1971, 9 miles SW of Palmillas, Tamaulipas, growing with Echeveria sp. and Sedum calcicola. Both the Huntington Botanical Gardens (HBG 28347) and I grew plants of this collection, but they eventually died without flowering.

The third collection is Glass & Foster 3785, February 10, 1972, from Cerro de la Campana, just south of Huizache junction, in San Luis Potosí. Glass refers to it as “3785. Echeveria sp. (? nova) 'monkey claw' echeveria.” On February 27, Glass found it again (3889) nine miles west of Miquihuana, near La Perdita, Tamaulipas, and also during the next day (3895) just west of Miquihuana. I never grew these collections, and they seem not to have remained in cultivation- apparently no herbarium specimens were made.

Figure 2. Inflorescence of the clone collected by Paul Debbert. Note nearly oblong corolla with parallel sides and obtusely rounded petals. Photo by the author.

The collection I am currently growing was received in 1989 from Helmut Regnat (his number SE 090) of Ottobrunn, Germany. It was collected by Paul Debbert of Germany, “south of Monterrey, near highway 5”. I have not been able to contact Debbert nor obtain more exact data. In my treatment (Kimnach 2003, page 127) of Echeveria in Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants, I presented a brief description of E. unguiculata in order to establish the name, but I did not intend to validate it there; I indicated that the descriptive article was in press and that Debbert's clone would become the type collection. However, because of the inadequately known locality of that collection, I am instead designating the Huntington specimen of Glass & Foster 2624 as the holotype. In IHSP 6, I had also tentatively assigned the species to series Angulatae rather than to the Urbiniae, where I now consider it to belong.

Although E. unguiculata is found in two Mexican states, all the localities are in a relatively small area some 75 miles wide. The collections show little variation and all share the distinctive purplish-grey leaf epidermis, claw-like leaf apices and (probably) the nearly oblong corolla that distinguish this species in series Urbiniae.

Cultivation presents no problems, and new plants can be grown from leaves and the larger bracts.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Reid Moran and Charles Uhl for their suggestions and corrections.

References

Glass C, Foster R. Year unknown. Mexico Logbook: Abbey Garden Spring Expedition 1970. Self-published.

Kimnach M. 2003. Echeveria, in U. Eggli (Ed.), Illustrated handbook of succulent plants, Vol. 6, Crassulaceae. Springer-Verlag.

Myron Kimnach

509 Bradbury Rd

Monrovia CA 91016

mkimnach@aol.com