Haworthia reinwardtii var chalumnensis

[Aloenut]

This is starting to offset from the base but the suckers are too small to be seen yet.
[attachment 1704 Haw_rein.jpg]

[Guest]

Are Haworthia reinwardtii and coarctata one and the same?

I have reinwardtii v. olivacea (large plant) and coarctata v. olivacea (cutting last summer) and they do look pretty much the same.

Magnificent colour once the sun gets to work on them.

[Bill]

Your two plants are probably the same Mike, both reinwardtii forma olivacea (one I don't have yet)

coarctata are simular but different.

According to Bruce Bayer's book the differences are:

the ratio of stem to leaf diameter is 1:1.7 in coarctata and 1:1.2 reinwardtii;

coarctata leaves are less densely arranged on the stem;

tubules are larger, flatten and whiter on reinwardtii than coarctata.

[Julie]

Frank, should it do that at this time of year? I wonder this because I have a houseleek which is sprouting sideshoots like mushrooms in the rain... surely this should be a spring thing?

Unless your Haworthia is a winter-active plant....?

[Bill]

Take your pick with Haworthia Julie, quite a few are winter growers, in the greenhouse it's a very delicate balancing act between keeping them going and them not turning to mush through over watering.

[Apicra]

That was a very astute observation by Bruce Bayer - how to differentiate Haworthias coarctata and reinwardtii. If I remember correctly, coarctata has 5 & 8 leaves per spiral, while reinwardtii has 8 & 13 leaves in the two directions, and is hence broader. It always worked for checkable plants with field data, but there are a lot of mis-named old plants in cultivation.

So Aloenut's plant fits reinwardtii. I find it a challenging plant to keep in good condition as it gets larger - old leaves die erratically and it falls apart from the middle of a cluster. Slow as well! One of my favourites.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble

[Bill]

[quote]Apicra Wrote:

So Aloenut's plant fits reinwardtii. I find it a challenging plant to keep in good condition as it gets larger - old leaves die erratically and it falls apart from the middle of a cluster. Slow as well! One of my favourites.

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble [/quote]

I am glad it's not just me. The other problem I find is the if the odd leaf dies off it looks unsightly.