Echeveria “Lipstick”

Echeveria “Lipstick”, also known as Echeveria agavoides, is a small, stemless succulent plant with a rosette of fleshy leaves that occasionally produces offsets. The leaves are green, triangular, and resemble those of the agave (hence the specific name) – a completely unrelated species. Some varieties reddish tips and leaf margins, and some have a thin waxy coating on the leaves – this is natural (it acts as a sun screen) and should not be cleaned off.

Pink, orange or red flowers may appear in summer appear on slender stalks that may be as much as 50cm high.

Echeveria, like most succulents, must have a period of darkness every day in order to photosynthesize. This is an adaptation to preserve moisture. The pores in the leaves (stomata) open only at night, to reduce the risk of the plant drying out. This means that carbon dioxide from the air is absorbed at night and chemically stored as malic acid. When the sun comes out, the stomata close to prevent moisture loss, and the carbon dioxide is released into the tissue of the plants where it reacts with sunlight and water to produce carbohydrates. All our potted plants come in compostable coir pots.