Gasteria Batesiana ‘Pongola’

[ianstrutt]

Hi all, I’ve recently bought this plant from Mint Plants in Bristol. Not something I was necessarily looking for, but a plant I couldn’t pass up. I reckon it’s one of the more striking gasterias I’ve ever seen and it looks just as good in person.

Photo borrowed from their website…

The website says, and I quote ‘These plants have originated from a prestigious cacti & succulent collection in the North of England, where they have been grown and loved in a private greenhouse for many years.’ I’ve reached out to Mint to get any more information but they’ve not got back to me. Does anyone have any idea where this might have come from? A long shot I know!

Cheers
Ian

[Stuart]

It's the one sometimes seen as Batesiana 'Penge' with leaves having a more rounded cross-section than the normal Batesiana, possibly the only one to grow 'plantlets' along the bottom of the lower leaves. It will propagate easily from leaves or from the 'plantlets'.

Stuart

[Tony R]

It's the one sometimes seen as Batesiana 'Penge' with leaves having a more rounded cross-section than the normal Batesiana, possibly the only one to grow 'plantlets' along the bottom of the lower leaves. It will propagate easily from leaves or from the 'plantlets'.
The plant Ian has acquired is a lovely specimern of 'Pongola'.

Stuart

Sorry, Stuart, but it is not.

Gasteria batesiana var. batesiana 'Pongola' comes from near Pongolapoort, Kwazulu-Natal, which is about 500 km south of Penge, Limpopo Province, where Gasteria batesiana var. dolomitica grows.
'Pongola' remains distichous longer than the normal 'clonotype' of G. batesiana but does eventually form a rosette.


Here are some examples from my collection:

Gasteria batesiana var. batesiana 'Pongola'

Gasteria batesiana var. dolomitica (from Penge)

[Stuart]

Yes Tony, you're quite right, I was confusing Polgola with Dolomitica, it's the Dolomitica that forms the plantlets and is also seen as Batesiana 'Penge'. Glad to see you're keeping an eye on things. The plant in the original picture is probably about three to five years old.

Stuart

[ianstrutt]

Thanks both. V. Dolomitica is also not one I’ve seen before either and like a cracking variety. Not dissimilar to pongola either so I can see where the confusion arose.