1.
Villadia squamulosa
(S. Watson) Rose in N. L. Britton and J. N. Rose, New N. Amer. Crassul. 5. 1903.
Cotyledon parviflora
Hemsley [not Desfontaines] var.
squamulosa
S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 473. 1887
Stems
1+ from tuberous roots, strict, with 20-70 ascending leaves, 1-3 mm diam., nearly smooth.
Leaf blades
1-2.5 cm × 1-3 mm.
Inflorescences
of compact, 1-3-flowered cincinni, 10-30-branched, 3-15 cm × 5-13 mm.
Flowers:
corolla rose or with white margins, 2-4 × 5-7 mm, tube ± 0.5 mm, lobes ovate; nectaries bright yellow, drying dark red, cuneate-flabellate, ca. 1 × 1-1.3 mm.
Follicles
red-brown, 2.5 mm; styles abruptly spreading.
Seeds
brown, 0.5 mm.
2
n
= 34.
Flowering late summer-early fall. Rock crevices; 1800-2400 m; Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas).
Like
Echeveria strictiflora, Villadia squamulosa
enters the flora area only in the mountains of western Texas. It is remarkable for its flabellate nectaries, larger than in other species and large for the size of the flower. Also, the chromosome number seems to be unique in the genus. It is close to
V. laxa
Moran & C. H. Uhl, of western Mexico, and to
V. minutiflora
Rose, of Oaxaca.