Serpentine things

Some long-time favourites here - ok, I admit it: everything I grow is my favourite, for different reasons. The latin word is descriptive, coarctata means leaves pressed together. Coarctate Haworthiopsis grow in columns and the white warty dots (tubercules) only add to their reptilian looks. Previously, these plants were delineated into all sorts of species but more recently, botanists decided that they were all coarctate, referring to their columnar growth habit. Coractate Haworthiopsis grow fairly slowly and there comes a point where the stem becomes too high and it starts to grow horisontally and really old specimens start looking like snakes on the ground. I find the rows of white tubercules very attractive

A very warty, dwarf species

Bigger, looking like claws

These grow very compact if they are in strong light

Some of them lack tubercules

Coarctates are easy to grow, although they dislike full sun and too much water.

First posted here on my blog in WeKu