Species
+

Sempervivum tectorum L.

Common houseleek, House-Leek

Climate known 55 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Sempervivum tectorum, the common houseleek, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to the mountains of southern Europe, cultivated in the whole of Europe for its appearance and a Roman-era tradition claiming that it protects buildings against lightning strikes.

Text from Wikipedia, “Sempervivum tectorum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Sempervivum

Sempervivum is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, commonly known as houseleeks. Other common names include liveforever and hen and chicks, a name shared with plants of other genera as well. They are succulent perennials forming mats composed of tufted leaves in rosettes. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Sempervivum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Crassulaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Austria, Germany, Hungary +6
Wild records
1315 in range· 1056 open

At a glance

Warmest month
21°C
Jul, mean day; nights 11 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1182mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 119 mm (CHELSA)
Light
9–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Sempervivum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to June and August to December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1182 mm a year, wettest October at 119 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Sempervivum montanum Sibth. & Sm.; Sempervivum requienii Bailly; Sempervivum tectorium; Sempervivum tectorum var. clusianum Grande.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Sempervivum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to June and August to December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (855 mm of 1182 mm) takes 8 months, April to June and August to December. Mean temperature moves 17.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: February to June and October to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1182 mm a year, wettest October at 119 mm, driest February at 70 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1182 mm a year at the habitat, 855 mm of it April to June and August to December. Wettest month October at 119 mm, driest February at 70 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 785 mm to 1858 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -9.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -9.4 °C, the absolute minimum -20.6 °C, about 125 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -5.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells -14.4 °C to -0.2 °C), warmest day 20.9 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 2 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Jul; mean night from -5 °C in Jan to 11 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1182 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1058 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -20.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°frost28.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)-20.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 9–39RH 59–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1058 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C2 / -6–64 / -5–87 / -1–1110 / 1–1414 / 7–1818 / 12–2221 / 15–2521 / 14–2417 / 11–2013 / 6–167 / -1–103 / -6–7
Night °C-5 / -14–-0-5 / -14–0-2 / -10–20 / -7–55 / -3–98 / 1–1211 / 4–1511 / 4–158 / 1–124 / -3–8-1 / -10–4-4 / -14–1
Rain mm88 / 54–14970 / 44–12284 / 52–139101 / 51–153117 / 69–18399 / 66–17185 / 56–17591 / 62–176108 / 65–167119 / 70–188112 / 65–169108 / 65–172
DLI10 / 6–1517 / 11–2125 / 18–3032 / 28–3736 / 33–4039 / 35–4239 / 34–4434 / 29–3826 / 20–3017 / 12–2111 / 7–159 / 5–12
RH %61 / 55–6860 / 56–6560 / 57–6360 / 58–6361 / 58–6360 / 58–6359 / 56–6259 / 56–6361 / 59–6462 / 60–6662 / 58–6862 / 57–69

Each figure is the median across the 1058 grid cells holding the 1301 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 917:3755 (44.125, 7.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -20.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1058 distinct grid cells holding the 1301 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 917:3755 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.00_7.500, lapse-corrected +495 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1337 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAustria, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, France, Spain, Albania, Italy, Yugoslavia· introduced: Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Baleares, Corse, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, South European Russia, Wake I., Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Utah, Virginia
Kew's description“succulent perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker45.049, 6.494 · in the densest population, 592 records (45% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1315 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 1056 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 5 km away. 234 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 14 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1315 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Sempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorumSempervivum tectorum

Photographs: (c) Felicia Seichter, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) fmunoz, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nicolás Lavandero, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (5).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Sempervivum tectorum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Antioxidant Activity of Sempervivum tectorum and Its Components
Marjeta Šentjurc, Marjana Nemec, Henry D. Connor, Veronika Abram (2003) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Evaluation of Protein Extraction Methods for Proteomic Analysis of Non-Model Recalcitrant Plant Tissues
Dubravko Pavoković, Bojana Križnik, Marijana Krsnik‐Rasol (2012) · Croatica Chemica Acta
Liver protecting and lipid lowering effects of Sempervivum tectorum extract in the rat
Anna Blázovics, János Fehér, É Fehér, Ágnes Kéry (1993) · Phytotherapy Research
Characterization of phenolic compounds and antinociceptive activity of Sempervivum tectorum L. leaf juice
Ágnes Alberti, Szabolcs Béni, Erzsébet Lackó, Pál Riba (2012) · Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis
A natural antioxidant extract from Sempervivum tectorum
Anna Blázovics, László Prónai, J. Fehér, Ágnes Kéry (1993) · Phytotherapy Research
Net CO2 output by CAM plants in the light: the role of leaf conductance
Volker Frimert, Manfred Kluge, J. Andrew C. Smith (1986) · Physiologia Plantarum
Reducing power of the natural polyphenols of Sempervivum tectorum in vitro and in vivo
Anna Blázovics, Andrea Lugasi, Klára Szentmihályi, Ágnes Kéry (2003) · Acta Biologica Szegediensis
Evaluation of Radical Scavenging Activity of Sempervivum tectorum and Corylus avellana Extracts with Different Phenolic Composition
Ágnes Alberti, Eszter Riethmüller, Szabolcs Béni, Ágnes Kéry (2016) · Natural Product Communications
Ethnopharmacological uses of Sempervivum tectorum L. in southern Serbia: Scientific confirmation for the use against otitis linked bacteria
Dejan Stojković, Lillian Barros, Jovana Petrović, Jasmina Glamočlija (2015) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Sempervivum 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 151 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.