Echeveria AGAVOIDES, Chinampas

Echeveria AGAVOIDES, Chinampas - Echeveria agavoides 'Chinampas'.

Echeveria is a large genus in the family Crassulaceae, numbering about 150 species of succulent perennials distributed across semi-arid regions of Central America, Mexico, and northwestern South America - from Texas to Argentina. The center of species diversity is concentrated in Mexico. Most species inhabit rocky slopes, stony screes, dry gorges, and mountain plateaus with good drainage and intense lighting.

Echeverias are evergreen rosette succulents without a true stem or with a short leafy stem. The leaves are fleshy, covered with a waxy or powdery coating (farina), ranging from rounded to lanceolate, often with a colored tip or margin. In many species, lateral offsets form over time, earning the plants the popular common name 'hens and chicks'. The plants are polycarpic - they flower and set seed repeatedly throughout their lifespan.

The inflorescence is a single-flowered or many-flowered cincinnus on an arching peduncle arising from the center or base of the rosette. The flowers are tubular, nodding, usually in shades of red, orange, or yellow, pollinated mainly by hummingbirds and insects. The fruits are small follicles; the seeds are small and numerous.

Echeveria agavoides is a succulent shrubby plant with a strongly shortened or completely absent stem, on which dense rosettes of light green leaves with a red tinge form. The triangular-ovate leaves, 3-9 cm (1.2-3.5 in) long and 5-6 cm (2.0-2.4 in) wide, are covered with a waxy bloom, pointed at the tips, and have translucent margins. In late spring and early summer, Echeveria agavoides produces numerous rounded-campanulate red-and-yellow flowers, up to 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long, gathered in terminal inflorescences 30-40 cm (12-16 in) tall emerging from the very center of the rosettes.

Echeveria seeds are tiny, brownish-yellow, dust-like, enclosed in small follicles. Because of their dust-like size, rinsing and soaking are impractical - the substrate itself is disinfected prior to sowing: it is drenched with a weak potassium permanganate solution and dried. Additionally, after sowing, the substrate can be misted with a growth stimulant solution (SUPERthrive, HB-101, Aminozol, Epin, or Zircon). Scarification and stratification are not required. Seeds from cultivars do not replicate the parent form exactly - seed propagation is used primarily in hybridization.

Sowing is carried out in a soilless loose succulent substrate (peat-based mix diluted by 50% with coarse river or quartz sand) or a mixture of perlite and fine sand. The seeds are dust-like, so they are mixed with a pinch of fine sand for even distribution and scattered over the surface without burying - the seeds require light to germinate. The substrate is moistened from below via the tray or carefully with a spray bottle. The sowings are covered with plastic wrap or placed in a propagator and kept at a temperature of 18-20 °C (64-68 °F) in bright indirect light. Temperatures above 21 °C (70 °F) reduce germination. The substrate is kept constantly moist, though waterlogging is unacceptable. Daily ventilation is mandatory - seedlings are prone to fungal diseases.