|
Gasteria bicolour is typically distinguished, with age, by its short
stem, which separates it from other acaulescent species, it that can get
tall as leaves keep stacking on themselves.
|
Description: This species
forms long, leafy stems instead of basal rosettes. It branches
profusely from the base and can grow up to 50 cm tall.
Stems: Stems become elongated 5 to 20 cm long, they are
relatively untidy and often with age lean on a side
Leaves: Smooth, shiny dark green mottled with nice cream spots 7
to 25 cm long (depending on clones) by about 2.5 cm wide. Distichous or
spirally rosulate, keeled or without a keel. Leaves
may turn red if plant is stressed.
Flowers: Small about 2 cm, pendulous, tubular,
to globose bicoloured reddish-pink and green that look like
little stomachs. The inflorescence can be simple or branched (paniculate)
and very tall (up to 150 cm hight)
Blooming Time: Flowers can be produced any
time of year, peaking in midwinter to spring.
Gasteria bicolor is a variable species
with two somewhat distinct varieties:
-
Gasteria bicolor var. bicolor Haw. It is
small plant 7-25 cm tall, but can attain greater size in some
population (up to 40-60 cm in height at Alicedale)
-
Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana
(Poelln.) Van
Jaarsv. This is a miniature clustering variety, plants boast
leaves only 3-5 cm long!
However intermediate forms between the two (neither var.
bicolor
nor var. liliputana) are also common around the environs of
Grahamstown, But all forms, from one end of the spectrum to the other,
are usually spiral or rosulate in habit, excepting an outlier group of
local populations north of the Zuurberg range which are distichous.
Cultivated plant usually distichous leaved.
|
Standard long leafed form |
short leafed form (syn:
G. bicolor liliputiana)
|
Photo of conspecific taxa,
varieties, forms and cultivars of
plants belonging to the
Gasteria bicolor
complex
(This
Taxon
has lots of synonyms
(
like many other Gasterias) whit
several controversial varieties and subspecies and comprises a multitude of different forms, but where each form
is linked to others by populations of plants with intermediate
characteristics):
|
Advertising
|
|
|
Family: Asphodelaceae
Scientific name: Gasteria bicolor var.
bicolor Haw.
Origin: South Africa. This species has a large area of distribution in
the Eastern Cape, and although it overlaps other species' ranges no
hybrids have been reported.
Habitat: Grow in a wide range of habitats
mainly on shallow soil in the shade of
other plants. Their speckled appearance, make them difficult to detect
in the mottled shade of the bushes under which they are found.
Use: Used in South Africa for various traditional medicines. They thrive in
cultivation both indoor and outdoors, used as a potted plants or outdoor
rockeries, tolerant of a wide range os soils and habitats.
Synonyms:
-
Gasteria caespitosa,
-
Gasteria salmdyckiana,
-
Gasteria spiralis,
-
Gasteria zeyheri,
-
Gasteria spiralis var. tortulata,
-
Gasteria variolosa,
-
Gasteria biformis,
-
Gasteria retata,
-
Gasteria herreana,
-
Gasteria longibracteata,
-
Gasteria maculata var. dregeana,
-
Gasteria maculata var. fallax,
-
Gasteria multiplex,
-
Gasteria chamaegigas,
-
Gasteria planifolia,
-
Gasteria maculata var. maculata,
-
Aloe maculata,
-
Aloe lingua,
-
Aloe maculata var. obliqua,
-
Aloe obliqua var. fallax,
-
Aloe dictyodes,
-
Aloe obliqua,
-
Gasteria loeriensis,
-
Aloe planifolia,
-
Gasteria obliqua,
-
Aloe zeyheri,
-
Gasteria colubrina,
-
Gasteria kirsteana,
-
Gasteria longiana,
-
Gasteria maculata,
- Gasteria
marmorata,
- Gasteria picta
|
|
Cultivation: They are slow
growing but long-lived plants of easy culture which
makes them a good houseplant and can be an excellent subject for the
beginning gasteriaphile (it can grow easily on window sills, verandas
and in miniature succulent gardens where they are happy to share their
habitat with other smaller succulent plants, or in outdoor rockeries)
Need light shade to shade, but will take full sun part of the day. (with
some sun exposure the leaf develops a nice reddish tint and remain
compact) They are tolerant of a wide range of soils and habitats, but
prefer a very porous potting mix to increase drainage. During the hot
summer months, the soil should be kept moist but not overly wet. The
plants are fertilized only once during the growing season with a
balanced fertilizer diluted to ½ the recommended strength. During the
winter months, water only when the soil becomes completely dry. Frost hardy to -1°C (Or less).
Propagation: Gasteria is easily propagated by the removal of
offshoots or by leaf cuttings in spring or summer. To propagate by leaf
cuttings, remove a leaf and let it lie for about one month
(e.g. in a cool window sill), giving the
wound time to heal. Then lay the leaf on its side with the basal part
buried in the soil. This leaf should root within a month or two, and
small plants will form at the leaf base. Young plants
can be harvested the following season. They can also grown from seed. Seed should be sown during summer in sandy well
drained soil and preferably protected from full sun. The seedlings are
slow growing and can be planted out in small containers when they are
large enough to handle. The soil should preferably be enriched with
compost. They react very well to a liquid organic fertilizer.
|
|