Gasterias By Paula Szilard Plants can change our lives, especially when received as gifts. Occasionally they have an enormous impact but most affect us in smaller ways. They open doors for us, inviting us to walk through. It’s often our loss if we don’t follow their lead. Other than the Aloe vera in my kitchen, the first succulent I ever grew was a gasteria. It was part of a gift of succulents from a friend of my cousin’s who was moving back to Germany. The door opened and I walked through to the incredible world of succulents. Because of this one gift plant 17 years ago I started to grow many other succulents and I joined CCSS. I started to incorporate hardy succulents into my outdoor landscape as well. This one plant has broadened my horizons immensely! At least partly because of it, I made a trip to South Africa with a group of other plant enthusiasts! When we went to pick up the plants, I knew I wasn’t ready for the cacti, so I gave them to CCSS, but the gasteria appealed to me. It was bilaterally symmetrical (distichous), its shiny dark green succulent leaves stacked in two tidy piles. It was years before I discovered the existence of the spirally symmetrical and the rosette shaped gasterias. The flowers were truly special, unlike anything I had ever seen. The inflorescences on my plant were branched, sometimes 2 feet tall. It bloomed reliably indoors once or twice a year. Its coral/peach and green flowers were oddly shaped, a short curved tube with a fatter stem end, somewhat like the stomachs on the anatomy charts. Hence the name! Just think of gastritis and you’ll remember the name. I discovered this plant’s identity only after I joined CCSS. Gasteria is the name of the genus and also by default somewhat of a common name, in addition to ox tongue. It appeared to be a hybrid. Just what hybrid remains a mystery because it came to its new home without a label. Gasterias are native to South Africa, growing predominantly in the eastern Cape region where they thrive in lightly shaded environments, often next to spiny plants that protect them from grazing animals. They perform beautifully as houseplants because most of them don’t like growing in direct sun like other succulents. When they reached Europe in the 17th and 18th Century, people had no choice except to grow them indoors. Most of Europe was too cold. Gasterias are in the Asphodelaceae family, subfamily Alooideae. They are highly variable in form. Ernst van Jaarsveld, an international expert on South African succulents and author of the recent revision of the genus describes them as chameleon-like plants that adjust their leaves in response to available light. They can be extremely difficult to identify. Initially European botanists, who did not have an appreciation for this variability, classified many juvenile plants into different species from their mature counterparts. As a result over time about 100 species were described in the botanical literature when only about 20 really existed! In the juvenile stage a plant might be distichous, having two tidy piles of leaves on opposite sides. When mature, the same plant might have a rosette shaped leaf arrangement. To make matters worse, some juvenile plants actually produce flowers! Radially symmetrical Gasteria brevifolia with bilaterally symmetrical pups. Gasterias grow well in various types of potting mixes. Van Jaarsveld suggests a mixture of equal parts peat and perlite or 2 parts sand, 1 part leaf mold or compost and 1 part garden loam, with a little superphosphate and bone meal added. I have used regular peat based potting mix with a little cactus mix added. Since gasterias grow best in mostly shade or part shade, do not place them in direct sun without gradually getting them used to it. Indoors I have mine near west or south windows and I water them roughly once a week. If the weather is not sunny, they will need less water in the winter months, unless they are near heat vents. Outdoors in the summer months even in shade, they may need more water. I fertilize mine spring through fall about once a month with Dynagrow 7-9-5. Inflorescence of G. armstrongii The flowers of two species have traditionally been eaten by native peoples. The buds of Gasteria brachyphylla were boiled like rice. It is said that the raw buds taste like a “sweet, fresh bean…with a burning aftertaste” without bitterness. Gasteria disticha flowers are prepared as a vegetable with onions and sheep’s ribs. In traditional medicine, another species, Gasteria croucheri is used by the Xhosa people in South Africa to treat paralysis. They also used it to ward off lightening. Zulu warriors ate this mottled plant thinking its mottled leaves would provide camouflage and make them invisible! For us, on the other hand, they have no real practical use, although there have been times in my life when I would gladly have eaten gasterias to become invisible. They just sit around and look beautiful and bloom once or twice a year. That’s quite enough, though, to inspire us to care for them so that we can enjoy them day in and day out and add a little sparkle to our lives. Sources: Jaarsveld, Ernst J., van. Gasterias of South Africa: A Revision of a Major Succulent Group. Illustrations by Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst. Simon’s Town, South Africa: Fernwood Press, in association with the National Botanical Institute, 1994. PlantZAfrika. www.plantzafrika.com. (A database with information about plants native to South Africa produced by SANBI, the South Africa National Biodiversity Institute. Data is being transferred now to a new website: www.pza.sanbi.org (1/29/16). When all the data is transferred the old website will taken down.

Gasterias

Paula Szilard

Plants can change our lives, especially when received as gifts. Occasionally they have an enormous impact but most affect us in smaller ways. They open doors for us, inviting us to walk through. It’s often our loss if we don’t follow their lead. Other than the Aloe vera in my kitchen, the first succulent I ever grew was a gasteria. It was part of a gift of succulents from a friend of my cousin’s who was moving back to Germany. The door opened and I walked through to the incredible world of succulents. Because of this one gift plant 17 years ago I started to grow many other succulents and I joined CCSS. I started to incorporate hardy succulents into my outdoor landscape as well. This one plant has broadened my horizons immensely! At least partly because of it, I made a trip to South Africa with a group of other plant enthusiasts!

When we went to pick up the plants, I knew I wasn’t ready for the cacti, so I gave them to CCSS, but the gasteria appealed to me. It was bilaterally symmetrical (distichous), its shiny dark green succulent leaves stacked in two tidy piles. It was years before I discovered the existence of the spirally symmetrical and the rosette shaped gasterias. The flowers were truly special, unlike anything I had ever seen. The inflorescences on my plant were branched, sometimes 2 feet tall. It bloomed reliably indoors once or twice a year. Its coral/peach and green flowers were oddly shaped, a short curved tube with a fatter stem end, somewhat like the stomachs on the anatomy charts. Hence the name! Just think of gastritis and you’ll remember the name.

I discovered this plant’s identity only after I joined CCSS. Gasteria is the name of the genus and also by default somewhat of a common name, in addition to ox tongue. It appeared to be a hybrid. Just what hybrid remains a mystery because it came to its new home without a label.

Gasterias are native to South Africa, growing predominantly in the eastern Cape region where they thrive in lightly shaded environments, often next to spiny plants that protect them from grazing animals. They perform beautifully as houseplants because most of them don’t like growing in direct sun like other succulents. When they reached Europe in the 17th and 18th Century, people had no choice except to grow them indoors. Most of Europe was too cold.

Gasterias are in the Asphodelaceae family, subfamily Alooideae. They are highly variable in form. Ernst van Jaarsveld, an international expert on South African succulents and author of the recent revision of the genus describes them as chameleon-like plants that adjust their leaves in response to available light. They can be extremely difficult to identify. Initially European botanists, who did not have an appreciation for this variability, classified many juvenile plants into different species from their mature counterparts. As a result over time about 100 species were described in the botanical literature when only about 20 really existed! In the juvenile stage a plant might be distichous, having two tidy piles of leaves on opposite sides. When mature, the same plant might have a rosette shaped leaf arrangement. To make matters worse, some juvenile plants actually produce flowers!

Radially symmetrical Gasteria brevifolia with bilaterally symmetrical pups.

Gasterias grow well in various types of potting mixes. Van Jaarsveld suggests a mixture of equal parts peat and perlite or 2 parts sand, 1 part leaf mold or compost and 1 part garden loam, with a little superphosphate and bone meal added. I have used regular peat based potting mix with a little cactus mix added.

Since gasterias grow best in mostly shade or part shade, do not place them in direct sun without gradually getting them used to it. Indoors I have mine near west or south windows and I water them roughly once a week. If the weather is not sunny, they will need less water in the winter months, unless they are near heat vents. Outdoors in the summer months even in shade, they may need more water. I fertilize mine spring through fall about once a month with Dynagrow 7-9-5.

Inflorescence of G. armstrongii

The flowers of two species have traditionally been eaten by native peoples. The buds of Gasteria brachyphylla were boiled like rice. It is said that the raw buds taste like a “sweet, fresh bean…with a burning aftertaste” without bitterness. Gasteria disticha flowers are prepared as a vegetable with onions and sheep’s ribs. In traditional medicine, another species, Gasteria croucheri is used by the Xhosa people in South Africa to treat paralysis. They also used it to ward off lightening. Zulu warriors ate this mottled plant thinking its mottled leaves would provide camouflage and make them invisible!

For us, on the other hand, they have no real practical use, although there have been times in my life when I would gladly have eaten gasterias to become invisible. They just sit around and look beautiful and bloom once or twice a year. That’s quite enough, though, to inspire us to care for them so that we can enjoy them day in and day out and add a little sparkle to our lives.

Sources: Jaarsveld, Ernst J., van. Gasterias of South Africa: A Revision of a Major Succulent Group. Illustrations by Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst. Simon’s Town, South Africa: Fernwood Press, in association with the National Botanical Institute, 1994.

PlantZAfrika. www.plantzafrika.com.

(A database with information about plants native to South Africa produced by SANBI, the South Africa National Biodiversity Institute. Data is being transferred now to a new website: www.pza.sanbi.org (1/29/16). When all the data is transferred the old website will taken down.