Sempervivum montanum aka Mountain Houseleek

Sempervivum montanum is a succulent, a plant that stores water. It is a perennial, so it lives for more than two years. It belongs to the plant family called Crassulaceae. Its common names include mountain houseleek and anomalous houseleek. Chicago Botanic Garden also uses the name hens-and-chicks. The RHS accepts Sempervivum montanum as the correct name for this plant.

Its native range runs from the Pyrenees to the western Carpathians. Italy and Corsica also form part of that range. The plant is not native to Britain or Ireland. Kew places it in the temperate biome. This means a broad region with a temperate climate. That record describes the kind of region where it grows. It does not give a size for a grown plant.

The plant creeps as it grows and spreads close to the ground. This low, spreading form suits use as a groundcover. In that role, the plant serves to cover the ground. The supplied records name this use for the species. They give no height or spread for a full-grown plant. They also give no details on this species' leaves or stems. The records thus describe its growth form, but not those plant parts.

Chicago Botanic Garden lists both pink and purple flowers. Its listed bloom times run from July through October. These dates come from a garden record kept in an archive. They show the bloom season that this source reports. They do not set a fixed bloom schedule for all gardens. The supplied records give no facts about the plant's fruit. The flower notes do not fill that gap in the records.

For growing this plant, Chicago Botanic Garden lists full sun or part shade. It also lists dry soil and USDA hardiness zones 3–7. These notes support a sunny site and low water needs. They do not show which soil texture the plant prefers. Nor do they give a preferred soil pH. That is the measure of how acid or alkaline soil is. The supplied species evidence does not cover pests or diseases. It names no edible parts and does not address toxicity. It therefore gives no basis to judge whether the plant is safe to eat.