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ECIIEVEUIA llETUSA. 
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ECHEVERIA RETUSA. 
Nat. Order, CitASSULACEiJi 5 CitAssuLtiiE. 
EcnBTKniA EETUSA, Lliidhy. Ketuse Echeveiia. — Leaves 
obovate-spcitliiilate, scattered above, the old ones retuse, ^\o.Vi~ 
cous, crcnulatc, tlie cauline linear-oblong', quite entire, with the 
base detached ; panicle dense, sub-corymbose, branches few- 
ilo-wered ; sepals linear, unequal, shorter than the eoroUa ; petals 
carinate, acute, gibbous at the base. 
Synontjiy, — E. retusa, ii«f??e^, in Jouriuil of the Mart, Soc, 
ii., 30G. Sot. BegMer, 1847, t. 37. 
Genehic Ch-uiacter.— Echeveria, D. C.~~ Calyx five-parted, 
lobes leaf-like, erect. Corolla perigynous, iive-partcd, lobes erect, 
thick, rather rigid, niid-uerve thickened, sub-three-sided at the 
base, acute. Stanu^ns ten, inserted at the bottom of the corolla, 
included. Hypogijuous scales short, obtuse. Oraries five, free, 
one-celled. Omles many, on the ventral suture. Capsules five, 
follicular, attenuated into subidate stjdcs, free, bursting along 
the greater part of the length on the inner side, many-seeded. — 
[Emllicher, Genera Flaniarum, 4621.) 
BESCRIPTION. — Aflesliy shiaib, with tlie lower leaves rosulate, obovate-spathulate, glaucous, 
erentilate, and, when old, excavated at tlie apex (retuse) ; those on the stem more and more 
distant upwards, oblong, quite entii'e, and with the base separated from the stem. The panicle 
is close, having a corymbose appearance, but the branches are few-flowered ; the flowers are 
axillary to fleshy bracts. The calyx is deeply divided into five unequal, green, leaf-like, spreading 
lobes. The corolla, inserted on the calyx, is five-parted, the teeth acute, erect, and much 
longer than the calyx, keeled and gibbous at the base, of an orange red externally, the margins 
and interior yellow; the lobes of the coroUa are arranged so as to form collectively an 
angularly campanulate flower. — A. H. 
History, &c. — For the introduction of -this pretty species we ai-e indebted to the Horti- 
cultural Society, who obtained it in the early part of 1846, through their collector, Mr. Hart- 
weg, by whom it was found growing on rocks near Auganguco, in Mexico. It is a jDretty 
dwarf greenhouse plant, blooming freely in winter and spring, or from November to April. 
Oiu- plate is prepared fr'om a di-awing made at the nursery of Mr. Gaines, of Battersea, where 
there was a remai-kably fine specimen, bearing a dozen of its compact panicles of flowers towards 
the end of January. The figm-e necessarily shows but a small portion of the plant. 
CuiiTUEE. — The Echeverias are succulent plants, aU more or less ornamental when in 
flower ; some dwarf and herb-like in their manner of growth, and others more or less shrubby 
in their habit. They are all free-growing jjlants, requiring to be kept in the greenhouse, and, 
like most other succulents, to be carefully watered, especially during winter ; in fact, the soil 
must never approach a soddened condition, an essential point in the cultm-e of most plants, 
and which is usually sought to be secru-ed, in the case of succulents, by a very jsorous mechanical 
composition of the soil in which they are grown. They must, however, be kept freely supjjlied 
with water whilst making their growth. What is called sandy loam, or, in place of this, any 
pm-e loam, made rather porous by the addition of clean sharp sand, should form the staple of 
the compost used for them ; three parts of this porous loanr, mixed with one part of pounded 
bricks, or of charcoal broken up quite small, will grow them well ; and as they gain size, they 
require moderate-sized pots, which must be thoroughly drained with potsherds or charcoal. 
While growing, the plants may be kept in a light aii-y part of the greenhouse ; and when the 
growth is completed, they should be set in a dry sunny place, and be sparingly watered, which 
win serve to thoroughly ripen them, and secure their flowering. As conducive to this ripening- 
process, a gravel walli on the simny or south side of a wall or glass-house, is no bad substitute 
for the exposed rocks of their native home. 
The Echeverias are readily propagated by the leaves, especially those produced along the 
flower stem ; these, if suffered to fall on the surface of the soil, will soon become converted into 
young plants ; and so strong is this tendency, that in some of the species, these cauline leaves 
form starvehng plants if they accidentally fall on the shelves or floor of the house, and are 
sufiered to remain undistm-bed. When they are planted, their lower ends should be very 
slightly inserted into a pot of very sandy loam, which must be watered only suflicient to keep 
the sm-face slightly damp. Sometimes, indeed, as already mentioned, this semi-planting 
process is not necessary ; and, in any case, leaves laid on the sm-face of the soil, will form 
plants, if they are but prevented from becoming- parched up. — M. 
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