October 2012 - Genus of the Month - Haworthia

[Bill]

New plant of the month is up and as it is Haworthia emelyae v. comptoniana (http://www.bcss.org.uk/pom.php), so genus is for the month is Haworthia.

[Ernie]

[Ernie]

Some of my Haworthias (Bill got quite a few of my previous collection when I sold up) Taken some time to gather together another 200.

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[Lindsey]

Ahh, Haworthias!
I must take another photo of my comptoniana "triffid"
http://www.bcss.org.uk/foruma/viewtopic ... 21#p170521
- there have been some interesting recent developments

[Bill]

H. magifica var schuldtiana, think you might need need a new label for this one Ernie. As far as I am aware there is not nor has there been such a plant as H. magnifica var schuldtiana, schuldtiana has been applied to Haworthias as varieties of nigra, limofolia, maraisii and also as species in it's own right. Bruce Bayer doesn't uphold schuldtiana at all and Breuer maintains it as a species but none of the varieties match your plant. Which is not a surprise as your plant is in fact a mirabilis, in Bayer's world it's simply Haworthia mirabilis (formaly mirabilis var mundula), Breurer says it's Haworthia mundula, mine are all labelled Haworthia mirabilis (mundula).

Bill

[Ernie]

I need to check that because the plant came from Bruer.

[Lindsey]

The triffid today:

comptoniana triffid Oct 2012.JPG (89.21 KiB) Viewed 5433 times

I have been removing some leaves of each head in the centre of the plant, because it was becoming congested.
A close look at two of the stems (apologies for my poor photo ) shows further offsetting! Quite unnatural, I know, but I like it... Further apologies to proper Haworthia growers.

[Lindsey]

The white arrows should make things clearer.

comptoniana triffid arrowed.JPG (59.31 KiB) Viewed 5433 times

[Ernie]

H. magifica var schuldtiana, think you might need need a new label for this one Ernie. As far as I am aware there is not nor has there been such a plant as H. magnifica var schuldtiana, schuldtiana has been applied to Haworthias as varieties of nigra, limofolia, maraisii and also as species in it's own right. Bruce Bayer doesn't uphold schuldtiana at all and Breuer maintains it as a species but none of the varieties match your plant. Which is not a surprise as your plant is in fact a mirabilis, in Bayer's world it's simply Haworthia mirabilis (formaly mirabilis var mundula), Breurer says it's Haworthia mundula, mine are all labelled Haworthia mirabilis (mundula).

Bill

I was wrong in my first reply. The plant is actually a clone from a batch imported into the UK from a specialist nusery in South Africa(1980's) I have two of them (foregot I had the other one) The name that was supplied with the plant is that I have shown in the photograph. Bayer actually mentions difficulty in distinquishing H maginifa from H mirabilis. If I have read him correctly the difference is probably the small difference in the flowers(if that). As Bayer says H. Magnifica is an incredibly variable species.

I am inclined to re name my plant H. schultiana. That said I consider either magnifa or mibalis to be or equal merit as a name for the plant.

As you alluded to on the web site the nameing of Haworthias is a mine field with two of the worlds authority disagreeing in their publications. Much has changed since the plant was imported in the 1980's and quite possible that at that time the name H. magnifica var schultiana was correct who knows. Today I have sent a picture to Ingo Breuer just to get his thoughts.

[Diane]

I have the same plant, Ernie - labelled H. mirabilis v. mundula.