Synonyms:

No synonyms are recorded for this species name.

Habitat:

Adromischus marianae f. herrei cv. Red Coral, being a nursery cultivar, doesn’t exist in nature. The regular species instead, Adromischus marianae f. herrei, is native to South Africa, in the area of Little Namaqualand. Its habitat are rocky outcrops and hills, where it grows among the rocks.

Description:

Adromischus marianae f. herrei is a dwarf, unique succulent: collectors adore it for its incredible leaves that look like carved pebbles, grouped alltogether in an almost stemless structure, around 10 centimeters tall. Its leaves look like dried plums, being furrowed in convoluted grooves and, in the Red Coral cultivar, are coloured in deep purple. As the plant ages, they become waxy. Their shape is oval to almost spharical and they are kind of piled up in cluttered groups around a reduced stem. Their red color tends to be enhanced by the exposure to direct, intense sunlight. Flowers are not special as leaves: they are green with a shade of red, very small (1,2 centimeters long) and borne on an elongated, succulent stalk. Roots, instead, are tuberous, to maximize water storage to survive periods of drought, which are very common in its native habitat.

Cultivation:

Adromischus marianae f. herrei cv. Red Coral is very easy to grow and also remarkably resistant to cold.

Here below are our cultivation tips:

Choose a bright spot for your plant. If you grow it indoors, you will need to place it by a sunny window. Direct sunlight may cause leaves wrinklig but, at the same time, it enhances its purple, beautiful colour. We suggest to move it in semi-shade when you notice the wrinkling until it recovers.
Choose a well-ventilated place. Adromischus in general don’t like stagnant air.
Adromischus marianae f. herrei cv. Red Coral, like all the Adromischus, thrive in warm environments (its ideal temperature is 24 ° C). Nevetheless, they can stand temperatures down to 5 – 10 ° C. In winter we advice to shelter them or to place the pot indoors, especially because they can’t survive winter rains.
Watering should be regular in Summer (approximately every two weeks), scarce in winter (one a month). If you grow it indoors it will need to be watered more frequently.
Choose, as always for succulents, a well draining substrate: for example, a mixture of peat and sand with the addition of little gravel.
The fertilizer can be limited to once a year, during the growing season and after any repotting, diluting half the doses of a specific product for succulents with watering.
Repotting it is not necessary to increase the size of the plant (unless one wishes it to develop in width) but it is useful to keep it in good health and to slow the aging. Once a year will be more than enough for your Adromischus marianae f. herrei cv. Red Coral. Choose shallow and wide pots: the new pot should be only slightly wider than the previous one. 

Propagation:

Propagation is usually carried out through cuttings, starting from the leaves. Just cut off a healthy leaf, let it rest one day in a warm environment make the wound dry up, and finally place it upright in a pot with suitable soil. It is advisable to start the cuttings when the plant begins to age. Adromischus in general, in fact, begin to wither and to lose their leaves in a few years, even if they are perfectly healthy.

Curiosity:

The name “Adromischus” literally means “abundant rod”: these plants grow in fact in clumps of fleshy leaves grouped in rosettes.

Official Web Site:
www.giromagi.com

Italian Blog:
www.giromagicactus.com

Tips:
Read our advice