Aeonium Sunburst “Cristata”
Synonyms:
Aeonium decorum cv. Sunburst
Aeonium decorum ‘Tricolor’
Aeonium “Tricolor”
Aeonium Arboreum ”Luteovariegatum’
Aeonium “Luteovariegatum”
Description:
Aeonium Sunburst “Cristata” is a curious, pretty, crested cultivar of Aeonium Decorum “Sunburst” . Unlike Aeonium Sunburst, it has a flat, wavy trunk, from which many crested branches with their fasciated rosettes grow. The leaves are light green, with creamy yellow-pinkish edges. Its crested mode changing during the years. The blossoming season is in summer, when the plant forms white, star-shaped flowers. It can grow up to 30 centimeters tall.
Cultivation:
It’s better to keep Aeonium Sunburst “Cristata” indoors, because it can not bear temperatures below 0ºC. She is happy in sunny or shaded position, but if you put it under direct sunlight, the pink tinges of the leaves will become brighter. In winter, water it only when the soil becomes completely dry. In summer, you can water it twice a month. Its growth season is in Spring. In summer, the plant generally goes dormant, and can look tired sometimes. Put it in a well-draining substrate.
Propagation:
Propagation is generally executed from seeds or cuttings. Cuttings should be taken off in Autumn or Spring. You can take off the main rosette and put it in a moisted soil.
Curiosity:
The plants of the genus Aeonium are very efficient in the depuration of the environment and very robust. For these characteristics they are, among the plants, studied by NASA for future use inside the spacecraft. Its name derives from the greek word aionios, which means eternal, immortal, a name that has earned both for its strength and for its affinity with the Sempervivum genus. In fact the Aeonium are plants extremely robust even for the standard of the great family of succulents; they can tolerate long periods of drought, as well as short periods of intense cold.
