''Jovibarba'' ("beard of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

") is a small

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of three

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of succulent

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crass ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to mountainous regions in the southeastern quadrant of Europe. The genus is sometimes classified as a subgenus of ''

Sempervivum ''Sempervivum'' (Brit. , U.S. �sɛ̃mpeɹ'vivũm is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, commonly known as houseleeks. Other common names include liveforever (the source of the taxonomical designation ''Sem ...

'', to which it is closely related. ''Jovibarba'' have pale-greenish-yellow or yellow

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

flowers with about six petals, while ''Sempervivum'' have generally pinkish flowers with around twice as many petals, which open more widely than jovibarba flowers. The common name

hen and chicks Hen and chicks (also known as hen-and-chickens, or hen-widdies in the southern United States) is a common name for a group of small succulent plants, a term that indicates a plant that possesses enlarged parts to store water. It belongs to t ...

is applied to some ''Jovibarba'' species (and also species in several other genera). Most jovibarbas, like sempervivums, reproduce via offsets in addition to producing seeds via sexual reproduction. '' Jovibarba heuffelii'' does not produce offsets on stolons. Instead the offspring of this plant are produced within the mother plant. To propagate it must be split with a knife. The other two jovibarba species are commonly called rollers. They produce offsets that are lightly attached and easily pop off and roll away from the mother plant. Offsets survive the main rosette, which is

monocarpic Monocarpic plants are those that flower and set seeds only once, and then die. The term is derived from Greek (''mono'', "single" + ''karpos'', "fruit" or "grain"), and was first used by Alphonse de Candolle. Other terms with the same meaning ar ...

Species

Only three species are accepted as distinct by the ''Flora Europaea'': *'' Jovibarba globifera'' (syn. ''J. sobolifera''; ''Sempervivum globiferum'') *'' Jovibarba heuffelii'' (syn. ''J. velenovskyi''; ''Sempervivum heuffelii'') *'' Jovibarba hirta'' (syn. ''Sempervivum hirtum'') ''Jovibarba globifera'' and its subspecies (subsp. ''hirtum'', subsp. ''allionii'', subsp. ''arenaria'') live in the eastern and southern Alps, the Carpathians and the western Balkans south to northern Albania. ''J. heuffelii'' occurs in the remainder of the Balkans and the eastern Carpathians, southeast of ''J. globifera''. ''J. hirta'' occurs further west, in the southwestern Alps.

References

External links

''Flora Europaea'' search resultsUSDA Jovibarba Page
Crassulaceae Flora of Europe Crassulaceae genera {{Crassulaceae-stub