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Echeveria 'Black Prince' - (Black Hens and Chicks) - This succulent plant produces clumps of short rosettes up to 3 inches wide with thin dark triangular, blackish leaves. These leaves first emerge greenish but darken to a deep lavender brown and with age the lower leaves widen out to as much as 1 inch at the base with an acuminate tip that has fine yellow edges. In late fall to early winter appear the dark red flowers on short stalks.
Plant in full sun (best color) or light shade in a well-drained soil with occasional irrigation in spring and summer months. Hardy to around 25°F.
The genus Echeveria is a member of the large Crassula family (Crassulaceae), which has about 1,400 species in 33 genera with worldwide distribution. Echeveria, with approximately 180 species, are native to mid to higher elevations in the Americas with the main distribution in Mexico and central America but with one species found from as far north as southern Texas and several species occurring as far south as Bolivia, Peru and possibly Argentina. The name for the genus honors the Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy in 1828 by the French botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (DeCandolle) who was very impressed with Echeverría's drawings. Echeverría had accompanied the the Sessé and Mociño expedition (led by Martin de Sessé y Lacasta and Mariano Mociño Suárez de Figueroa) while exploring Mexico and northern Central America and had produced thousands of botanical illustrations. The book "The genus Echeveria" by John Pilbeam (published by the British Cactus and Succulent Society, 2008) is an excellent source of information on the species and "Echeveria Cultivars" by Lorraine Schulz (AKA Rudolf Schulz) and Attila Kapitany (Schulz Publishing, 2005) has beautiful photos and great information on the cultivars and hybrids. It has been argued by some that the correct pronunciation for the genus is ek-e-ve'-ri-a, though ech-e-ver'-i-a seems in more prevalent use in the US.
Echeveria 'Black Prince' was created by Frank Reinelt , who operated Vetterle and Reinelt Nursery in Capitola, California. It was first offered through the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) Journal in the May-June 1970 issue by editors Charlie Glass and Bob Foster at their Abbey Gardens Nursery (Abbey Gardens #70-170). It was noted as an appealing new cultivar that resulted from crossing Echeveria shaviana as the seed parent with E. affinis as the pollen parent. Echeveria affinis, often called the "Black Echeveria", gives this plant its dark coloration while Echeveria shaviana gives it its delicacy. This plant is squatter with shorter more triangular leaves than the similar cultivar 'Black Knight' and also is a more prolific clumping plant. We grew this interesting dark cultivar from 2010 to 2011 from plants acquired from the micropropagation laboratory (tissue culture) at Longview Horticulture in New Zealand and the image used on this webpage is from them as well.
This information about Echeveria 'Black Prince' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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