“Sempervivum” Genus

The genus Sempervivum is commonly known as the house leeks. It is a genus of flowering plants consisting of 40 species and belongs to the Crassulaceae family. Sempervivum means ‘forever alive,’ so it also has the common name ‘liveforever.’ The species in this genus form beautiful rosettes, which later offset, producing smaller clusters. Thus plants in this genus fall under the ‘hen and chicks’ category. When conditions are right, Sempervivums offset prolifically, and they can quickly colonize a location if unchecked.

They are found in habitats in Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Morocco, and other parts of the Sahara Desert. It takes a few hours for sempervivums to flower, but they are usually monocarpic. This means that they often die when they flower once. The death of these plants isn’t a significant problem for a collector because their reproduction is usually asexual. A plant must produce enough offsets to replace it often when it dies.

Sempervivum flowers are hermaphrodites, but the positioning of stamens vis a vis the anther makes fertilization difficult, thus the difficulty in sexual reproduction. Flowers are rarely white but primarily pink, yellow, and red. They are star-shaped, with each being like a six-point star. 

Sempervivum Plants On Succulent City