Houseleek
Sempervivum tectorum L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Little
- tall
- 18 cm
- wide
- 36 cm
Crassulaceae
Also called Hen-and-chickens, Common houseleek
Formerly Sedum tectorum
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Succulent perennialKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Pyrenees to W. Balkan Pen.Kew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension full, part; RHS full
- Height
- 18 cmRead from Wikipedia and Plants for a Future, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: Wikipedia 15–15 cm; Plants for a Future 0.2–0.2 m
- Spread
- 20 cm to 51 cmRead from RHS, Plants for a Future and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by 2 of 3 sources. Sources differ: RHS 0.1–0.5 m; Plants for a Future 0.2–0.2 m; Wikipedia 50–50 cm
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- PurpleRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension purple, red, yellow; RHS purple
- Coldest it survives
- -30 °C (USDA zone 4b)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension -40 °C; RHS -20 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- root
- SEMTEC, Llysiau pen tai
- Italian
- Semprevivo dei tetti
- French
- Joubarbe des toits
- Czech
- netřesk zední, netřesk střešní
- German
- Dach-Hauswurz
- Dutch
- Donderblad, Gewone huislook
- Catalan
- Matafoc comú
- Norwegian Bokmål
- takløk
- Russian
- Молодило кровельное
- Finnish
- kattomehitähti
- Lithuanian
- Stoginė šilropė
- Slovak
- skalnica strechová
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-26, fact, cited
- Plants for a Future, read 2026-10-26, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, Public domain
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Sempervivum tectorum (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.