Scientific Name
Sempervivum tectorum L.
Common Names
Houseleek, Liveforever, Common Houseleek, Hen and Chickens, Old Man and Woman, Roof Houseleek, Hens and Chicks, Bullock's Beard, Bullock's Eye, Devil's Beard, Earwort, Fuet, Healing Blade, Homewort, Imbroke, Jove's Beard, Jupiter's Beard, Jupiter's Eye, Poor Jan's Leaf, Roof Foil, Sengreen, St Patrick's Cabbage, Thunder Plant, Welcome-home-husband-however-drunk-you-be
Synonyms
Sedum majus, Sempervivum acuminatum, Sempervivum alpinum, Sempervivum andreanum, Sempervivum arvernense, Sempervivum boutignyanum, Sempervivum cantalicum, Sempervivum clusianum, Sempervivum glaucum, Sempervivum lamottei, Sempervivum schottii, Sempervivum spectabile
Scientific Classification
Family: Crassulaceae
Subfamily: Sedoideae
Tribe: Sedeae
Subtribe: Sedinae
Genus: Sempervivum
Description
Sempervivum tectorum is a mat-forming succulent with rosettes of 50 to 60 fleshy, green, sometimes purple-tipped leaves. The rosettes are up to 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter. Leaves are glabrous and up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) long. The mother rosette spreads in all directions by horizontal stems to form offsets. In summer, leafy, pubescent, upright, up to 12 inches (30 cm) tall flowering stalks rise from the mother rosette topped with cymes of red-purple flowers.
Photo via pbase.com
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones 3b to 11b: from −35 °F (−37.2 °C) to 50 °F (+10 °C).
How to Grow and Care
Common Houseleek can be grown from seeds, seedlings, or by dividing offsets.
Don't plant your Common Houseleeks too deeply. Dig a shallow hole and spread the roots. Cover the plant's crown and tamp the soil gently so that the plant is firm in the ground. Water lightly, but you don't need to water newly planted Common Houseleek every day, the way you would with non-succulents. Common Houseleeks need to let their roots dry out between waterings.
Seeds can be sprinkled on top of a soil, gravel mix and kept moderately moist until they germinate. Once they sprout, sprinkle some fine gravel around them as mulch. Seeds are usually started in pots and then transferred to the garden as seedlings. You can start your seeds in the fall and transplant them in the spring.
Common Houseleeks will spread by underground roots. Each plant multiplies by at last 4, in a growing season, by producing little offset plantlets all around the perimeter of the "hen." These are the "chicks." The chicks can be snapped off and replanted elsewhere at any time.
Learn more at How to Grow and Care for a Common Houseleek (Sempervivum tectorum).
Uses
The juice and leaves have been used in folk remedies for centuries for their coolant, anti-inflammatory, astringent and diuretic properties. Bruised leaves of the fresh plant or the plant's juice can be used as poultices for burns, scalds, ulcers, and any inflammation as the pain is quickly reduced. Honey, mixed with the juice, helps relieve the pain of mouth ulcers.
Learn more at Houseleek: Superstitions, History, and Medicinal Benefits.
Origin
Sempervivum tectorum is native to the Mountains of Western, Central, and Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Alps, Apennines and Dinarides.
Cultivars
Links
- Back to genus Sempervivum
- Succulentopedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus
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