Large, mostly solitary rosette succulent from central and southern Mexico. Leaves are glaucous green, sometimes tinged with purple. Inflorescences are extra large, over a meter tall, with many flowering branches and powder-dusted pinkish flowers. This species was distributed as ISI 321 in 1960, a propagation of the type collection.
The history of E. gibbiflora is intermixed with the history of the former E. metallica, a plant with purplish gray leaves which was described from cultivated plants. Opinions differ on the origins of metallica, but it is most likely a horticultural form of gibbiflora. The CoL treats the former E. gibbiflora var. metallica as a synonym of E. gibbiflora. It may also be referred to as Echeveria gibbiflora 'Metallica', and is distinct from the hybrid Echeveria of the same name. However you want to refer to this plant, the former E. metallica is distinct from most E. gibbifloras in terms of leaf color (metallic purplish gray, not green). A separate but related plant from cultivation called
Echeveria 'Violescens' was described as a species but was also subsequently reduced to a cultivar of gibbiflora, though this is controversial, as the original description for E. violescens relates to cultivated plants of unknown natural origin. Our database lists this plant as an Echeveria cultivar, without a species name.
The former E. metallica and its derivatives have been useful in hybridization. The popular purplish cultivar
Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg' is a 1930s hybrid of metallica. All of the carunculated Echeverias are thought to originate from a cultivar called
Echeveria (Echeveria gibbiflora 'Caronculata'), a tall plant reputed to be derived from metallica. The popular, ruffled and often carunculated
Echeveria 'Mauna Loa' is a hybrid of 'Carunculata', also the parent of various hybrid offspring.
