Synonyms:

There are not synonyms for this plant

Habitat:

Lenopetalum ‘chocolate and strawberries’ has garden origin. The plant is a hybrid between Lenophyllum and Graptopetalum, both native to southern USA and Mexico.

Description:

Lenopetalum ‘chocolate and strawberries’ is a wonderful and very sough after hybrids belonging to the Crassulaceae botanical family. The plant has a branched habit and resemble a Lenophyllum for its flowering and a Graptopetalum for its foliage. The dwarf succulent forms many rosette of leaves. The rosette oval, crowded, slightly pointed, fleshy leaves very fascinating for their color. The leaves are dark purple red tinged with black mostly at the apex of the leaves. The plant forms a cymose inflorescence made of numerous and crowded flowers. The flowers are star-shaped with five bright yellow petals, that create a beautiful contrast with the reddish black of the leaves below. Being a hybrid, flowers are sterile and don’t produce fertile seeds. The beauty of the color makes this exemplar unique and unmissable in your collection. The plant is perfect also to give ornamental touches to your home thanks to it extremely original tones.

Cultivation:

This is a slow growing plant, easy to cultivate. The plant needs a full light sun exposure but is recommended to avoid direct sun-light in the hottest periods. The plant does not like temperatures below 8°C so it needs to be placed indoors in the coldest periods. The soil should be mixed with pumice, clay and loam to allow the drainage and prevent the root rot, the plant is prone to it indeed. Remember to use a perforating pot to drain excess water. Watering can be done regularly in Spring and Summer: during the vegetative period you can water the plant (every 7 days), checking that the soil is completely dry before watering again; in winter you should stop the watering to allow the plant to enter dormancy. If you want a faster and lush growth you can fertilize the plant once a month during the growing season with the specific fertilizers for succulents; stop fertilizing throughout the winter. If the pot starts to be too small for the plant you can repot the plant in a pot 2 cm wider. Repotting should be done early in the growing season with fresh new potting soil. Be careful to red spiders and mealy bugs.

Propagation:

Propagation can only be done by cutting. By cutting you can make the cut during the spring and then let the cutting dry; after a few days the cut surface will dry and a callus will form, then place the cutting in a mixture of sand, soil and pumice. To increase the success of propagation you can make two or more cuttings at the same time. For cuttings it is recommended temperatures around 20 °C.

Curiosity:

It’s called “Chocolate and strawberries” for the unusual colour of its leaves, blackish-red with an orange hint, that remind a little bit chocolate and strawberries mixed together.

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