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July 14, 2009 : Sempervivum 'Othello'
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Plant Family / Families: Crassulaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Sempervivum L. 'Othello'
Institution: UBC Botanical Garden
Accession Number: 035183-0659-2000
Name Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Crassulaceae consists of between 33 and 40 genera and more than 1700 species of succulent (water-retaining) plants. The family's idiosyncratic capacity to store water in its fleshy stems and leaves allows its species to live in otherwise inhospitably dry habitats and climate zones, from the frigid rockiness of alpine heights to the infernal heat of badlands and deserts. The plants are distributed throughout the world, but are most common north of the equator and in Africa.
About 30 species of Sempervivum grow in tightly swirling rosettes from among the rocks and gravel that form a low, greenhouse-supporting wall in our E.H. Lohbrunner Alpine Garden. Each plant is carefully marked, as the plants' propensity to naturally hybridize renders identification notoriously difficult. The genus name derives from the Latin for 'always living', which nicely figures the persistence with which Sempervivum species confront even the most hostile and trying of environmental episodes, among them drought and heavy frost. The plants take several years to put forth their star-shaped flowers, and they die once these blooms have fallen; careful, committed gardeners need not fret, however, for the passing plants bestow a good number of viable offsets upon the gardens of future years. In general, Sempervivum species grow without difficulty when sited in well-drained sandy soils and exposed to either full sun or partial shade. The genus has a particularly rich symbolic history, and its putative sacredness to the lightning-hurling deity of Roman mythology, Jove, seems to have inspired the superstitious postulate that the plant, when grown on a roof, protects the house below from the surging skies of electrical storms.
Our Sempervivum 'Othello', which has formed a uniquely large colony on the greenhouse wall, is here dressed with many small hairs that are gently bathed with rainwater. The plant's numerous and variegated rosettes seem to spin like a collection of old tops, though the plant of course remains still and firmly rooted in the ground below. For me, this cannot help but engender thoughts of both the dizzying intensity and the all-encompassing, if misguided, rage of the tragic character from whom the cultivar derives its name.
Posted by Stephen Coughlin (summer student 2009) at July 14, 2009 7:00 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Meg Bernstein at July 14, 2009 7:26 AM
does anybody have a good quick way of visually differentiating sempervivum and jovibarba?
thanks!
Posted by: ayehlet at July 14, 2009 8:46 AM
Stephen, you're a phenomenal writer! Thanks for the post! I'll watch the papers in years to come for news of your future books. ;)
ayehlet, apparently you need flowers... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovibarba My guess is that Jovibarba is probably better treated as a group within Sempervivum!
Posted by: Cody at July 14, 2009 9:19 AM
Fabulous !!!
Posted by: Terri Shane at July 14, 2009 10:10 AM
How lovely. This would make a great jigsaw puzzle!
Posted by: Janet at July 14, 2009 10:26 AM
Janet, you have got that right on the money. I would love to do that as a jigsaw puzzle!
Posted by: Sue in Bremerton at July 14, 2009 10:33 AM
Thrilling colors and motion in your picture ! Thank you for the beauty.
Posted by: Marilyn Brown at July 14, 2009 10:59 AM
Beautiful photo, and such a delightful accompanying essay. I've always called plants that looked like this 'Hen and Chickens' - had a whole rockery full of them many years ago.
Posted by: Annie Morgan at July 14, 2009 11:17 AM
Beautiful! Love the colors....I have also heard this referred to as "Hens & Chicks."
Posted by: comet at July 14, 2009 12:44 PM
Fabulous Fun with Floriferous Fractals!
Posted by: Connie at July 14, 2009 12:49 PM
Great picture.
I wonder if these would be good for a self installed roof garden in Toronto. I assume it wouldn't require more than a few inches of soil and so would not be too heavy.
Hopefully it would look like the photo.
Posted by: John Murtaugh at July 14, 2009 2:58 PM
My green Hen and Chicks look sick compared to these beautiful plants! Is this variety widely available? And can I put in my order for the jigsaw puzzle???
I'm new to this website, and really am enjoying it. Thanks!
Posted by: Jean Gobel at July 14, 2009 3:37 PM
My hens and chicks look very anemic compared to these too! What is making mine so "leggy"? I want this crowded swirling look!
Posted by: maureen at July 14, 2009 3:42 PM
My Sempervivum tectorum are doing wonderfully. I think they compare in beauty to what's pictured here. And they're multiplying.
Posted by: He Who Lives With Yankees at July 14, 2009 5:43 PM
Wow! I just subscribed here, so this is my first image. What a spectacular introduction; thank you so much. I am going to look for some Othello for myself, despite - or maybe as a reminder of -those rampant emotions. And I would love to have a roof planted with these guys. Does anyone think that would work in Massachusetts?
Posted by: Mary Oconnor at July 14, 2009 8:27 PM
third paragraph prose is soaring Stephen - thank you....
what separated Jovibarba from Sempervirens in the first place? petal count? are we splitting that which would be better lumped?! What does APGII say?
was it this site that spoke of the profound changes for culture between two inches of soil and four inches in rooftop gardens.......
Posted by: Quin at July 14, 2009 9:44 PM
From the depths of my amateur botanist heart, thank you for the beautiful picture and wonderful write up. I also vote for the prose, the artistic language to accompany the fantastic photo. This photo looks like an oil painting, the colors too rich and deep to be real life. A++ for this day's entry.
Posted by: Sara at July 15, 2009 6:14 AM
hens and chicks indeed
we had a good many in the house
they were called dish gardens
if one follows the links one will find
the plants in gardens etc or google
the latin and have fun
this is indeed a fine page i have
always been happy here its been
a few years and the people are so nice
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at July 15, 2009 6:42 AM
I love the semperviviums. I use many types professionally on jobsites here in So. Cal. They always please the client and reproduce, making me look good. Would love to see a rooftop full. The photo is great. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Julie at July 15, 2009 6:52 AM
thanks Cody!
John, as a professional green roofer, I've found that sempervivums do quite well on a green roof, though I have no experience with this particular cultivar. I'd recommend four inches of media as most reliable, and planting other cover species (Sedum)as Sempervivums don't provide quick or extensive coverage... best!
Posted by: ayehlet at July 15, 2009 8:33 AM
Ahhhhh... the most splendid colours and shapes. A visual feast.
Posted by: Mary Ann, in Toronto at July 17, 2009 2:13 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Wow, patterns in Nature!