Aeonium PERCARNEUM - Fleshy aeonium, Aeonium percarneum.
Aeonium is a large genus of succulents developing as compact shrubs or herbaceous plants. The genus includes about 40 perennial, highly ornamental indoor plants from the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae). These are true long-lived plants that grace room interiors for decades. As with all succulents, Aeonium is characterized by fleshy, water-storing leaves and shoots. The stems are robust, straight, branching or solitary, gradually becoming woody and displaying marks from fallen old leaves that resemble scars. Some Aeonium species develop striking aerial roots. The height of these plants ranges from a modest 10-15 cm (4-6 in) to almost 1 m (3.3 ft). At the same time, in different species, stems can be either prominent, resembling woody plants, or almost entirely hidden beneath low-growing rosettes of leaves.
The fleshy leaves are always sessile, narrowing toward the base, resembling petals or rhombuses in shape. Sparse pubescence or an absolute glossy surface is combined with leaf edges adorned with fine white cilia or small denticles. The leaves gather into very dense, flower-like rosettes, arranged in an overlapping, patterned manner. The rosettes range in diameter from a few centimeters to almost 1 m (3.3 ft), but are always situated at the ends of stems. Leaf coloration varies from ordinary light green to various reddish, brownish, and purple hues, most often distributed unevenly across the leaf blade. Under indoor conditions, Aeonium blooms very rarely. Pyramidal racemes of inflorescences in bright yellow coloring are very spectacular and last for a long time. However, the lack of flowering also has an advantage. Species that produce only a single rosette of leaves most often die after flowering.
Aeonium percarneum is a branched shrub with brown, glossy stems. The leaves are arranged in rosettes at the ends of stems, glabrous, light green, 5 cm (2 in) long, obovate-oblong, with ciliate and curved margins. The flowers are pink or white with pink longitudinal stripes, 9-petaled with yellowish anthers, arranged in umbellets within umbel-like, terminal inflorescences.