Gasteria
The genus Gasteria belongs to the plant family Asphodelacea. I have a reasonable collection.
Gasteria grow almost exclusively on South African soil. A distribution map of all species show where they grow and what their habitats are. They do not pose any particular problems to grow.
I find that making a summary is good for my proper understanding of the genus. Whenever possible I tried to understand a species by visiting its habitat and experiencing the environmental conditions on the spot. I realise that this experience is very limited compared to people living in SA, but here goes...
Aloe Africana 'nigricans' by Maria Monickx.
The Monickx Atlasses can be consulted online
You may also want to know more about:
Flowers
They are plants that are readily recognized by their flowers who grow on a simple or branched raceme and have a 'belly' usually with a red colour, sometimes with some shades of green and yellow. The long peduncle ususally exerts out of the bushes the plant is hiding under and is very visible to insects and hummingbirds. Fowers contain nectar.
Gasteria disticha
Gasteria batesiana
Gasteria glauca
Gasteria pillansii
Shape and leaves
The plants either have a shape of a rozette or have distichous (fan shaped) leaves. The leaf surface can be smooth and shiny, or have an asperulous (mat) surface. Some have a rough surface with tubercles.
G. pillansii has distichous, strap shaped leaves with an asperulous surface
G. brachyphylla has distichous leaves with a smooth surface
G. batesiana has a rozette of leaves with a rough tubercled surface
G. rawlinsonii has spiralling or ladder-like leaves arranged on a hanging stem
Species
There are 30 true species (at this moment):
Classification
Ernst Van Jaarsveld distinguishes 2 sections each with 2 series based on morphological traits: shape of flowers, leaf shape and surface, and shape of plant
Section Gasteria
Small flower with clear round belly and straight tube.
Leaves always strap shaped. Plants mostly distichous, rarely a rozette
Section Gasteria, Series Gasteria
baylissiana, bicolor, brachyphylla, camillae, disticha, doreeniae, glomerata, koenii, rawlinsonii
Section Gasteria, Series Namaquana
Only one species G. pillansii.
Is the odd one out since the flower has virtually no belly...
Section Longiflorae
Flower bigger and without clear belly but a longer inflated part. Tube approx als long as inflated part.
Leaf triangular, pointed. Plant a rozette, small or large
Section Longiflorae, Series Longifoliae
acinacifolia, barbae, batesiana, croucheri, loedolffiae, pendulifolia, polita, tukhelensis
Section Longiflorae, Series Multifariae
armstrongii, carinata, ellaphieae, excelsa, glauca, langebergensis, nitida, pulchra, retusa, thunbergii, visseri, vlokkii
Literature
These are the standard sources (books or other) that you could use for further reading
Aloe 29:1:1992
A special issue of the magazine of the Succulent Society of South Africa, 2007, contains a synopsis of the revision of the genus Gasteria. It describes the species and the history of the genus. It is the precursor of the book that will follow two years later.
Contains 16 species and 11 varieties with numerous in situ pictures and several botanical drawings.
Gasterias of South Africa
book by Ernst J. van Jaarsveld, illustrations by Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst. Fernwood press 1994.
The revised taxonomy of the genus into two Sections and two Series. It describes 16 species and 11 varieties.
Aloe 44:4:2007
This issue of the magazine Aloe, 2007, is entirely dedicated to the genus Gasteria. It contains numerous pictures of plants in situ.
Contains 23 species and 18 varieties/subspecies.
New book?
There is a new Gasteria book in the making. It might publish a number of new plants! If it is published, you will be the first to know about it!