Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Salad bowl

(Aeonium urbicum)

galery
en

Description

Aeonium urbicum is a succulent species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is endemic to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, where it frows on the north of the island from Teno point to the Anaga peninsula.  Until 1999, it was also considered a resident of La Gomera, another Canary Island, but that year the populations on that island were considered a new species and named Aeonium appendiculatum. Aeonium urbicum was also divided into varieties, var. urbicum and var. meridionale. Aeonium aureum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma). It has very short stems, usually with several leaf rosettes. The grey-green leaves are tightly packed and fleshy. The bright yellow flowers are produced on leafy stems, and are up to 25 mm (1 in) across. Aeonium, the tree houseleeks, is a genus of about 35 species of succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Many species are popular in horticulture. The genus name comes from the ancient Greek "αιώνιος"/"aionios" (ageless). While most of them are native to the Canary Islands, some are found in Madeira, Cape Verde, Morocco, in East Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya) and Yemen. The succulent leaves are typically arranged on a basal stem, in a dense, spreading rosette. A feature which distinguishes this genus from many of its relatives is the manner in which the flowers bear free petals, and are divided into 6 or 12 sections. Each rosette produces a central inflorescence only once, and then dies back (though it will usually branch or offset to produce ensuing rosettes). Low-growing Aeonium species are A. tabuliforme and A. smithii; large species include A. arboreum, A. valverdense and A. holochrysum. They are related to the genera Sempervivum, Aichryson and Monanthes, as can be seen by their similar flower and inflorescences. Recently, the genus Greenovia has been placed within Aeonium. Most aeoniums are from the Canary Islands,  but some are from Madeira, Cape Verde, Morocco, Yemen and East Africa : Ethiopia (for example in the Semien Mountains), Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Some species have been introduced in California. UK national collections of aeoniums are held by Mellie Lewis at Clun in Shropshire and by Inverewe at Poolewe, Wester Ross in Scotland.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Saxifragales
Family:Crassulaceae
Genus:Aeonium
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