Echeveria 'Parva' - A neat and durable nearly stemless rosette forming succulent to under a foot tall that with time offsets at its base to form a dense cluster of symmetrical 8-inch-wide rosettes of 4-inch-long upturned ghostly pale blue-green rigid leaves that are often spotted with red in bright light, and are widest near the end before it narrows down to a red sharp leaf tip. In spring appear the pink stemmed inflorescence bearing bell shaped orange-yellow flowers.
Plant in full to part sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to at least 25° F. This is an easy to grow succulent that is excellent for the succulent or rock garden or used as a container specimen outdoors or in a bright windowsill.
Echeveria 'Parva' is an older hybrid created in 1959 by Eric Walther that resulted from crossing Echeveria purpusorum, a tight heavily spotted species from Pueblo, and Oaxaca Mexico and named after the botanist Purpus brothers Carl and Joseph, with possibly Echeveria pumila (now called ahref="plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=1883" target="_blank">Echeveria secunda) that was introduced to the trade as ISI 804 Echeveria 'Parva' in 1973 by The International Succulent Institute. In this first listing this plant was described as "An old hybrid between E. purpusorum and possibly E. pumila [now E. secunda ‘Pumila’], this should be more widely grown. Neat and compact as in E. purpusorum, it also shows similar spotted leaf markings. It is nearly stemless, eventually offsetting, and is easily grown. Grown from plants originally from Eric Walther in 1959."
The International Succulent Institute was a organization started in 1958 in association with The Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) to introduce new succulent plants. It was administered by J. W. Dodson in Millbrae, California. In 1988 the program name was changed to < a href="http://media.huntington.org/ISI/catalogintro.html" target="_blank">The International Succulent Introductions and from this point on it has been administered by the nursery at the Huntington Botanic Garden with each year's new plants being featured in the CSSA's Cactus and Succulent Journal. The choice of the name 'Parva' is a bit unclear as it derives from the Latin 'parvus' meaning "small" and, while not a large Echeveria, the rosettes of 'Parva' are a pretty good size and hardly would be called small. Our plants grown from unrooted cuttings sent to us by Dümmen Orange.
The information about Echeveria 'Parva' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include 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 we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |