Echeveria

Echeveria includes nearly 200 species of houseplants and myriads of hybrids. The genus is named for Atanasio Echeverria y Godoy, a seventeenth century botanical illustrator who contributed to Flora Mexicana. The plants are succulents and found in the Crassulaceae family which includes sedums, the Jade Tree, Kalanchoe and many other genera. This plant is native to an area stretching from southwest Texas to northwest Argentina and it has been introduced to Vietnam and New Zealand. 

The thick fleshy leaves of this plant form a tight rosette which stays very close to the ground for a while, but eventually, as the leaves wither and drop from the bottom of the stem, the stem becomes visible. This plant can be propagated vegetatively in several ways. Offsets (small rosettes that form at the base of the mother plant) can be detached and placed in very well drained soil and it will root. You could also cut off the crown leaving a short stem that can be plunged into very well drained soil. Or you might want to try removing a leaf and just leaving it on the soil. Eventually a small rosette will form and the old leaf will wither away.

The plant is native to deserts and so doesn't mind being in full sun. In fact, the coloring of the leaves improves with sunlight. It needs little water. And because they are generally small they make great additions to edge of border and rock gardens. However, they are not truly frost hardy, so unless you live in a frost-free area, you have to bring them inside for the winter. These plants are easily grown in pots in a bright, sunny windowsill, where they thrive with little care.

The leaves come in many different colors most tending towards grey, sea green and blue green. However some are pointed, some are rounded, some have thin veins of color running along the edge, others have a blush of color fading in towards the center. Once a year, rosettes will produce one or more flower stalks that rise above the rosette and produce flowers of light pink, reddish pink sometimes with yellow marking in the throat. The flowers attract bumble bees and hummingbirds. 

Quick ID:

• Thick, fleshy, upright leaves in a mounding habit
• Entire margins with a point at the tip

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No significant problems

VIDEO Created by Laura Barth for "Houseplants, Succulents, and Cacti", a plant identification course offered in partnership with Longwood Gardens.