Crassulaceae - Genus Aeonium - Aeonium volkeri

Aeonium volkeri Hernandez & Banares 1996

Is a dubious species !! Resembles in many things to the Aeonium mascaense.

Could be a local from of this last species. There where Hern.& Banares give as principal difference "the colour of the petals and the leaves sometimes strongly tinged with red". I will ad a couple pics of the A. mascaense with the same characters .(012-013-014)

Let us see the description given.

Subshrub densely branching up to 40cm high, with slender and rough stems, scaly. Small fleshy leaves in rosettes from 2 to 6 cm in diam., obovate, glabrous, intense green, sometimes strongly tinged with red, notably in period of aridity, with strongly ciliate margins. Inflorescence with whitish pink flowers, in 6 to 9 parts.

Grows between 30 and 450 meter, exceptionally 500-600 m in altitude, on volcanic hillsides and cliffs, in full sun. Locally frequent between San Andres and Igueste de San Andres

In the same region I could find a species resembling a lot the Aeonium haworthii, unfortunately the A.haworthii grows on the total other side of the island, what happens here, have a look to the last pictures (010 & 011) who represents this species??? Do you have an explination. A. haworthii is in the Teno region and this plants grow here above the "Malpais de Candelaria" in totally wild abandoned sites. Do you have an explanation ??? pls contact me.

01 Malpais de Candelaria

one of the 2 sites known by me

02 Aeonium volkeri - Malpais de Candelaria

03 Aeonium volkeri - Malpais de Candelaria

04 Aeonium volkeri - Barranco Balayo

05 Aeonium volkeri - Barranco Balayo

06 Aeonium volkeri - Barranco Balayo

07 Aeonium volkeri - Barranco Balayo

08 Aeonium volkeri - Barranco Balayo

010 Aeonium ?? haworthii - Malpais de Candelaria

011 Aeonium ?? haworthii - Malpais de Candelaria

012 Aeonium mascaense - Teno

013 Aeonium mascaense - Teno

014 Aeonium mascaense - Teno

Crassulaceae - Genus Aeonium - Aeonium holochrysum

Aeonium holochrysum Webb & Berth.

Very interesting plant who is endemic to the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro. A known as Aeonium arboreum var. holochrysum ( Ho-Yih Liu)

Is a plant with a wide distribution, allied to the A. manriqueorum (Gran Canaria), arboreum (S.W & N Morocco) and undulatum (Gran Canaria). All largish shrubs with yellow flowers. The A. arboreum is much smaller, the A. undulatum a lot bigger, the A. manriqueorum is very similar to the A. holochrysum but has a puberulous inflorescence and not glabrous.

It's a perennial, arborescent, forming bushes up to 100/ 140cm high with stems up to 8cm at his bases. Branches thick, divaricated, younger plants smooth and grey, with brown oblong-rhomboidal leaf scars. Leaves smooth, shining, full green, in a sunny exposure more yellowish and streaked with a brown-purple midstripe and on the margins.

Inflorescence terminal on the branches, dense, ovoid or elongate-ovoid or conical 20/35cm long and +/- 20cm broad.

Like his other allies it loses his larger leaves in summer period, only a very small flat rosette of densely imbricate young leaves remaining.

After flowering forming new branches just under the dried inflorescence.

Growing as from 350m up to 1500 meter mostly on rocky borders.

I know this plant of the following places on Tenerife : Guimar , Icod de los Vinos, alongside the TF 5 highway, Masca, Garachico, El Tanque, Igueste de Candelaria, etc....

on La Gomera : Villahermoso, Barranco de Santiago

Aeonium holochrysum - entering sommer rest period

Aeonium holochrysum - Roque del Conde

Aeonium holochrysum - Barranco de Badajoz

Aeonium holochrysum - La tierra del trigo

Aeonium holochrysum - Icod de los Vinos

Aeonium holochrysum - Santiago del Teide

Aeonium holochrysum - Barranco de Badajoz

Aeonium holochrysum -

Crassulaceae - Genus Aeonium - Aeonium haworthii

Aeonium haworthii Salm-Dijck ex Webb & Bert.

Tenerife endemic.

Subshrub, densely branching 60/80 cm high. Rough stems, slender, ascending or pendent +/- 4mm diam., brownish-grey with many adventitious roots. Bark generally longitudinal fissured.

Grows mainly on rocks and rocky slopes from 250m up to 1250m altitude.

N - N.W - N.E side of the island of Tenerife, Masca, Buena Vista , Los Silos , Los Gigantes , Chinamada, Chamorga, Faro de Teno, El Palmar, Las Lagunetas, Las Portelas and possible Malpais de Candelaria(??)

Fleshy leafs in rosettes of 6-11cm diam. Leaves obovate, acuminate towards the apex, green/glaucous with the margins ciliate and reddish purple.

Inflorescence hemispherical and more or less lax, flowers 8-9 parted pink or white with pink streaks.

Flowering March until half July.

Named after the British gardener and entomologist Adrian Haworth (1768-1833)

Hybridise easily with A. ciliatum , A. urbicum , A. sedifolium and (rare) with Greenovia dodrentalis.

Aeonium haworthii - Cruz de Cilda

Aeonium haworthii - El Palmar &

Opuntia ficus-indica

Aeoniup haworthii - Cruz de Cilda

Aeonium haworthii - El Palmar

Aeonium haworthii - Los Carizales

Aeonium haworthii - El Palmar

Aeonium haworthii - Teno Alto

Aeonium haworthii - look diff. flowers

Teno Alto

Aeonium haworthii - look diff. flowers

El Palmar

Crassulaceae - Genus Aeonium - Aeonium tabuliforme

Aeonium tabuliforme (Haw.) Webb. & Berth.

Tenerife endemic

The unique flat, plate like, (mostly) monocarpic species in the genus Aeonium . The rosette is composed of over the 100 leaves which are densely imbricated, glabrous and edges with crowded long soft white cilia. The most resembling is the Madeiran A. glandulosum . As synonym of the A. tabuliforme we know tha A. berthelotianum - Bolle- Bonplandia 1859 and the A. macrolepum - Webb ex Christ . For the first traces of this plant we have to search in the 16 hundreds, Plukenet in 1696 describes it as "Sedum majus Canarinum akaulon pilis ad oras foliorum hispidis argenteo-lucidis fimbriatum, Corozone Celio ab Insulanis dictum" . A lot of discussions followed and the plant has been described under so many different names. It is only in 1819 that Haworth gave the name Sempervivum tabulaeforme who afterwards, after the Sempervivum revision, became Aeonium tabuliforme by Webb and Berth.

Ho-Yih Liu describes this plant as biennial to perennial. Biennial = means living 2 or 3 years , perennial = means lives many, many years. Up to this day I never have had a plant flowering in his 2nd or 3rd year and no one living longer than 5 years and after flowering the plant dies. So I think we may not consider this plant as biennial nor perennial.

It is a herbaceous, monocarpic succulent plant (normally simple plant without offsets) with a very flat, saucer like rosette who can reach up to 60cm diam.

A. tabuliforme is a plant of vertical rocks and in normal condition not forming offsets. Sporadically I found plants with so many offsets and this in only one location, near Icod de los Vinos.

Leaves most closely imbricated, 6 to 16 cm long, 2.5 to 4 cm broad, cuneate and very attenuate below, broadest close to the top, where abruptly they become rounded, often with a small cusp at the apex; pale green , glabrous, edges with long, slender white crowded cilia (+ 1mm long) set on crowded ovoid hyaline papillae. Flowering stem erect, from the rosette, stout, pubescent, 35 up to 75cm high, leafy throughout with scattered small sessile patent rhomboid-ovate pubescent leaves, unbranched in lower half. Inflorescence up to a 35 cm long and broad, ovoid in outline, lax, of many patent branches; branches sparingly bracteate, dividing near their apex into two to four 6- to 8 flowed branchlets.

Habitat : Tenerife endemic , locally abundant on the western and northern side of the island. Masca Vallei , Barranco Juan Lopez , between Teno Bajo and Alto , Barranco de Itobal, El Palmar, Buena Vista del Norte, Los Silos, Tiera del Trigo, Barranco Sibora , Garachico, El Tanque, Icod de los Vinos, Tejina , Barranco de la Iglesia (Taganana) , Barranco de Afur, Barranco de Benijo, Chamorga, etc ..

Aeonium tabuliforme - Faro de Anaga

Aeonium tabuliforme - Afur

Aeonium tabuliforme & Monanthes laxiflora

Afur

Aeonium tabuliforme - Chamorga

Aeonium tabuliforme - Teno Alto

Aeonium tabuliforme & Herman - Afur

Aeonium tabuliforme & Alois Debie - Chamorga

Aeonium tabuliforme - offsetting

Aeonium tabuliforme -

Aeonium tabuliforme - +30cm diam

old model mobi is about 22cm

Aeonium tabuliforme - ready to flower

Aeonium tabuliforme - seeds

Aeonium tabuliforme - different locations -

different

forma !!!

Crassulaceae - Genusn Aeonium - Aeonium lindleyi

Aeonium lindleyi - Webb& berth.

Among the smaller shrubby Aeoniums this species resembles A. viscatum and A. goochiae in having sticky leaves, but in A. viscatum the leaves are glabrous, not glandular-pubescent, and in A. goochiae the flowers are pink, not yellow. It differs from both in its very fleshy leaves, 6mm or more thick, twice as thick as those of either. The extremely fleshy leaves, indeed, distinguish it from all other Aeonium, in none is the ratio of thickness to breath normally so great.

It is a striking plant on account of its heavy bushes with very k leaves, but not one of the most attractive.

This sub-shrub is very branched and to 60/70 cm high, very often hanging alongside the cliffs and rocks, has a very special and pronounced smell of balsam. Leaves obovate, pubescent, older leaves green/yellow and the new growth mostly dark green, forming a 5/11cm rosette.

Inflorescence lax, about 5 cm across, flattish, sessile with 10 to 30 flowers.

Flowers 7 to 9 parted, 15mm across , gold-yellow ) flowering May to September

Distribution : endemic to the island of Tenerife and Dr Buchard reported it from La Palma near Tijarafe. On Tenerife growing as from Taganana to La Orotave , San Andres, Igueste de San Andres, Punta Hidalgo, La Laguna, Bajamar, etc....

We could find a hybrid with the Aeonium tabuliforme

This species is used, in case of accident with the latex of Euphorbia, to dilute and neutralise their adhesive and caustic properties, especially with ophthalmic problems.