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Crassulaceae
Hen and Chicks Flower
Sempervivum tectorum
Motherhood, protection, and lightning wards.
- Family
- Crassulaceae
- Genus
- Sempervivum
- Native to
- Southern Europe, Alps
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- succulent perennial
- Height
- 5–15 cm (rosette); flower stalk to 30 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, rocky, sandy
- Water
- very low; drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 3–11
- Lifespan
- monocarpic rosette; colony is perennial
Did you know
- The mother rosette dies after flowering, but dozens of 'chick' offsets around her carry on the colony.
- Charlemagne ordered Sempervivum planted on every rooftop in his empire, believing it warded off lightning.
- The genus name means 'always alive' in Latin, reflecting its extraordinary tolerance of drought and cold.
- The flower stalk can appear almost alien — a thick, fuzzy column erupting from the center of the rosette.
- Some cultivars can survive being frozen solid in ice and resume growth when thawed.
Color meanings
0
protection
1
motherhood
2
steadfastness