10 Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana Seeds - Indigenous Succulents

Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana Seeds

Common name: dwarf gasteria, klein-beestong

Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana is a rare, dwarf succulent perennial with leaves in a rosette. It is one of the smallest of the gasterias, each rosette reaching only about 25 mm in height. Some of its larger siblings like Gasteria exelsa can grow 70 mm tall and 1 m in diameter.

Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana proliferates from the base forming dense groups of up to ten or more individuals. The leaves are 15-100 mm long and 8-14 mm broad, tapering, strap-shaped with a rounded or acute top and a smooth, mottled epidermis. The leaves of young plants are arranged in two opposite ranks and look quite different to the adult leaves.

Flowers can be produced at any time of the year, but peak flowering time is in midwinter to spring. Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana is a rare endemic of Eastern Cape thickets occurring along the Grahamstownartzitic sandstone mountain range. The plants grow in shallow soil in the shade of thorny thickets dominated by succulent plants. Its habitat is often rocky. Here the climate is dry and hot and frost is very light or absent. Rainfall is variable, even in summer, and this gasteria is able to survive periods of drought.

Gasterias grow in the shade of other plants, so the mottled appearance of their leaves camouflages them in the dense vegetation, thus giving them some protection from grazers, but not necessarily from being trampled. Nevertheless, if they are disturbed, grazed or trampled, their brittle leaves will break and the parts broken off will spontaneously root on the ground. They have thus become very well adapted to 'bad handling', so well in fact that it even appears to be beneficial to the plant in that it generates young and vigorous plants and increases the population. Many other succulent plants that share their habitat have become similarly adapted to 'bad handling'.