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Pachyphytum oviferum (Moonstones) - A prostrate succulent to 4 inches tall by 12 or more inches wide with white stems bearing pale blue green to bluish-purple rounded leaves in a rosette at the stems tips. The flowers, which appear in winter to early spring atop reddish 1-foot-long stems, have red-orange petals surrounded by fleshy sepals the same color as the foliage.
Plant in full sun along the coast or with some shade during the hottest part of day. Listed as frost tender but we find these plants can tolerate short duration temperatures in the mid to high 20s° F without damage, but prolonged cold freezes the leaves and stems. This unusual and attractive plant is erect at first but lays over under the weight of the succulent leaves.
Pachyphytum oviferum is known in the wild only from a single location on rock cliffs at 3,900 feet in San Luis Potosi. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'pachys' meaning "thick" and phyton (phuton) meaning "plant" because of the thick swollen leaves and the specific epithet comes from the Latin words 'ovum' meaning "egg" and 'fera' or 'ferum' meaning "carrying" again in reference to the shape of the turgid leaves. The common name "Moonstones" and alternate name "Sugar Almond Plant" is also a reference to the shape and color of the leaves. We first received this plant from Santa Barbara succulent plant grower Diane Dunhill in 2002 and sold it from 2003 until 2022.
The information about Pachyphytum oviferum that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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