Mexican snow ball facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mexican snow ball |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Echeveria
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| Species: |
elegans
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Echeveria elegans, often called the Mexican snowball, God's Throne, Mexican gem, or white Mexican rose, is a beautiful succulent plant. It's a type of flowering plant that belongs to the Crassulaceae family. This plant naturally grows in semi-desert areas of Mexico.
Contents
What Does the Mexican Snowball Look Like?
The Echeveria elegans is a succulent, which means it stores water in its thick leaves. It's also an evergreen perennial, meaning it stays green all year and lives for many years.
This plant usually grows about 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches) tall. It can spread out to about 50 centimeters (20 inches) wide. It forms tight, pretty rosettes of pale green-blue leaves that feel fleshy. In winter and spring, it grows slender pink stalks about 25 centimeters (10 inches) long. These stalks have lovely pink flowers with yellow tips.
Growing Your Own Mexican Snowball
People often grow Echeveria elegans as an ornamental plant because it looks so nice. It's popular in rock gardens or as a potted plant in homes. It grows best in warm, sunny places, like the climate found in Southern California.
This plant has even won an award! The Royal Horticultural Society gave it their Award of Garden Merit. This award means it's an excellent plant for gardens.
Like many other plants in its group, Echeveria elegans makes many small new plants called "offsets." These offsets grow around the main plant. In spring, you can carefully separate these baby plants from the parent plant. Then, you can grow them separately. This is why some people call them "hen and chicks," a common name for several plants in the Echeveria genus.
Where Does the Name Come From?
The name Echeveria comes from a person named Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy. He was a talented artist who drew plants for a book called Flora Mexicana.
The second part of the name, elegans, is a Latin word. It means 'elegant' or 'graceful'. This name certainly fits the beautiful look of the plant!
Images for kids
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Flowers of echeveria elegans.
See also
In Spanish: Echeveria elegans para niños
