Sempervivum minutum

One of the best aspects of checking out a new walking route is the thrill of spotting special flowers and to capture its beauty on a photograph for the ´El Paraje Flora Book´. Special are certainly the unique species  like this Sempervivum minutum, endemic to the Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Baza. We took this picture of the ´Sierra Nevada Liveforever´ just before reaching the top of the Morrón del Mediodía, at an altitude of about 2,650 metres. According to Gabriel García Guardia, author of ´Flores Silvestres de Andalucía´ people used to recollect this Siempreviva because they believed that it could attribute to a longer life. The name ´Sempervivum´ has its origin in the Latin ´Semper´ (always) and ´vivus´ (living). Sempervivum are called `always living´ because this perennial plant keeps its leaves in winter and is very resistant to difficult conditions of growth. This ´Nevada liveforever´ likes fissures of siliceous rocks of he slopes higher than 2,000 metres. The ability of this succulent plant to store water in its thick leaves allows it to live on rocky slopes of the high mountain summits. Rosettes of  this sempervivum propagate asexually by lateral rosettes (offsets), which secures its reproduction.
PS On the 18th of July 2010 we saw large numbers of this Sempervivum minutum while walking from the Plaza de Lobos to the Cerro del Gallo, the highest mountain of Bérchules.

Related aritcle:
- Parnassius apollo nevadensis (2)

Related links:
- On-line magazine Waste: La flora endémica del macizo de Sierra Nevada
- On-line magazine Waste: Series de vegetación,  rocas verticales

Related key words: sempervivum vicentei, siempreviva de sierra nevada, sempervivum nevadense, crassulaceae family, familia crassulaceae, famille des crassulacées, perennes suculentas, crasas, succulenten, plantes succulentes, vetplantenfamilie, familie der dickblattgewächse, houseleek, hen and chicks, huislook, donderblad,  hauswurze,  joubarbes