''Aeonium arboreum'', the tree aeonium, tree houseleek, or Irish rose, is a

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

in the flowering plant family

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 ...

. It is an invasive weed in places outside its natural distribution, for example as a garden escape throughout temperate southern Australia.

Description

''Aeonium arboreum'' grows as a less branched

and reaches stature heights of up to 2 metres. The more or less upright or ascending, smooth, not net-like patterned stem axes have a diameter of 1 to 3 centimetres. Their leaves are in flattened rosettes with diameters of 10 to 25 centimetres at the end of the stem axes together. Young leaves are pressed tightly together. The

obovate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

to oblate

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

leaf blade is pointed toward its apex and wedge-shaped at the base. It is long, wide and 1.5 to 3 millimetres thick. The green, usually purple-colored, glossy leaf surface is almost bare. The leaf margin is set with curved eyelashes. The

conical A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...

to ovate inflorescence has a length of 10 to 25 centimetres and a diameter of 10 to 15 centimetres. The inflorescence stem is long. The flowers sit on a 2-to-12-millimetre-long, slightly fluffy flower stem. Its sepals are also slightly fluff-haired with a pointed top and wedge-shaped base that is smooth and shiny green, red or purple. The yellow, narrow oblong to lanceolate, pointed petals are 5 to 7 millimetres long and 1.5 to 2 millimetres wide. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are bare. It bears rosettes of leaves and large pyramidal panicles of bright yellow flowers in the spring.

Distribution

The plant is endemic to the western

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

El Hierro El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

and

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that co ...

. The populations found on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, the Moroccan coast and the Mediterranean are likely to be considered

neophyte A neophyte is a recent Initiation, initiate or Religious conversion, convert to a subject or belief. Neophyte may also refer to: Science * Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area As a proper noun Arts and entertainme ...

s. In

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

regions it needs to be grown under glass.

Cultivation

''Aeonium arboreum'' grows in sunny or slightly shaded places on weathered volcanic soil. The purple

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

'Zwartkop' ('Schwartzkopf') has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

.''Aeonium'' 'Zwartkop' AGM.
Royal Horticultural Society and a variegated form is grown as cultivar 'variegatum'.

Varieties

The following

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

names are accepted. * ''Aeonium arboreum'' var. ''arboreum'' * ''Aeonium arboreum'' var. ''holochrysum'' H.Y.Liu * ''Aeonium arboreum'' var. ''rubrolineatum'' (Svent.) H.Y.Liu

Gallery

File:Aeonium_arboreum_-_Jardín_Botánico_Canario_Viera_y_Clavijo_-_Gran_Canaria_-_02.jpg, Inflorescence File:Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpureum' 001.JPG, ''Aeonium arboreum'' 'Atropurpureum' File:Aeonium arboreum 4.jpg, ''Aeonium arboreum'' 'Zwartkop' File:Aeizon_to_Mega_Aeonium_arboreum.jpg, Botanical illustration File:Aeonium_arboreum5.jpg, Flower close up File:Angers_-_Terra_Botanica_-_Aeonium_arborescent.jpg, Potted File:Aeonium_arboreum_albovariegatum.jpg, Variegated File:Aeonium_arboreum_(3).jpg, Rosette of leaves

References

External links

*
House tree-leek
Retrieved February 7, 2011. {{Taxonbar, from=Q138279 arboreum Plants described in 1840 Flora of the Canary Islands