Gasteria polita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gasteria polita | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gasteria polita in habitat, Plettenberg Bay (JIL) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asphodelaceae |
| Subfamily: | Asphodeloideae |
| Genus: | Gasteria |
| Species: | G. polita |
| Binomial name | |
| Gasteria polita van Jaarsv. | |
Gasteria polita, the polished gasteria, is a recently discovered succulent plant restricted to a locality in the Afro-temperate forest of the Western Cape, South Africa.[1]
It is a small, stemless plant which forms a rosette up to 30 cm wide. Its short, triangular, strongly keeled leaves have rounded ends (obtuse to subacute and mucronate apex), and are shiny with white spots. The shiny surface of its leaves is the origin of its species name polita, which means "polished" in Latin. They sometimes attain a purple colour in the stress of full sun.
It flowers in summer (around October, November & December especially; though some populations begin flowering in August already). The dangling flowers have typical Gasteria shape and colouring (pink at the base; white and green at the tip). The flower stalks first grow upwards, and then spread out horizontally (much like its relative Gasteria acinacifolia). The stalks are sometimes single, and sometimes with a few branches.
Taxonomy and relatives
It closely resembles the enormous coastal Gasteria acinacifolia, which however has much longer leaves and roughly tubercled leaves when young. G. polita in contrast has shorter, more compact leaves, which are always smooth, shiny and "polished", even when young. Although superficially it seems most closely related to Gasteria acinacifolia, genetic tests have indicated that this species is actually more closely related to a group of smaller, squatter gasterias with more restricted ranges to the east, namely: Gasteria glomerata, Gasteria pulchra, Gasteria ellaphieae, Gasteria vlokii, Gasteria glauca, as well as the more widespread Gasteria nitida (and its distinctive armstrongii variety).[2]
