Over the years there has been a mass of misinformation relating to haworthias. The situation has vastly improved with the publication of Bruce Bayer's works on Haworthia. Haworthias have gained enormously in popularity in recent years but misidentifications still persist in collections. I have been studying and collecting haworthias for many years, but still when I was fortunate to have Mr. Bayer review my collection in 1981, the number of mislabeled plants was rather appalling. After two trips to South Africa which afforded the opportunity to study a number of species in the field and to examine the collection at the Karoo Garden, coupled with familiarity of major Haworthia collections in the United States, I feel qualified to make some comments about haworthias found in collections.

Haworthia sordida

Haworthia sordida is quite rare and is very localized where it does occur. It is also very rare in collections, although plants which are misidentified as H. sordida are quite common. This species is found from Uitenhage to Steytlerville in the Eastern Cape area I saw it growing near Addo and again at Kirkwood. At Kirkwood, I also saw H. translucens and specimens of Dioscoria elephantipes with huge caudices 4 to 5 feet high. The land owner here had a very large baboon which was skinned and hung from its hind legs to dry. This looked very much like a human being hanging there and I am sure it was very effective in discouraging trespassers. At both localities, H. sordida was growing in sandy-rocky, alluvial soils. The plants were almost always solitary and even though they grew right out in the open, they were very hard to find. Although the plants accumulate dust on their leaves (which accounts for the name "sordidi or dirty), this doesn't really camouflage them as one might expect. The plants grow well above the ground, and the only reason that they are so hard to find is that they are so few in number.

In cultivation in the U.S.A., one often sees a haworthia which is labeled as H. sordida. H. sordida usually has a more blunt leaf tip than this hybrid as well as sparser tubercles on the leaves. The plant which is called H. sordida var. agavoides in the U.S. is similar to this plant but has darker, longer and pointed leaves and is also, in the author's opinion, a hybrid. C.L. Scott has described a variety, H. sordida var. lavrani. This variety is not recognized by Bayer. I have seen plants from two localities other than Scott's type locality which resemble this variety very much.

Haworthia pumila

This species is known to most people as Haworthia margaritifera. Although the name "pumila" means "small", this species is the largest of all haworthias and can get up to one foot tall. H. pumila is not a rare species in the wild, however many of the specimens I have seen in cultivation in the U.S. are in fact hybrids between H. pumila and other haworthia species. H. pumila is also known to hybridize in the field with H. marginata as well as with Astroloba rugosa. (Astroloba rugosa = Astroloba aspera is one follows Mrs. Roberts Reineckie's revision of Astroloba.) Some forms of H. pumila are very good looking, especially those that are large and are covered with large pearl-like warts. Indeed, the name "margaritifera" means "pearl bearing."

This species can be used to illustrate the constant problem of anyone who is trying to put a name on his or her plants and wants to know why the names keep changing. H. pumila has been known as H. margaritifera and H. papillosa, both of which are synonyms. The name pumila was published before H. margaritifera and therefore has priority. H. papillosa was described as distinct from H. margaritifera on the basis that it possesses a leafy stem. This is nothing more than the plant responding to optimum growing conditions and not a justification for a distinct species. At Lemoenpoort a very interesting form of this species is found. The plants have a chromosomal translocation which results in their having twisted leaves which have a brick-red cast to them. These characteristics make this form a very attractive one.

This species is very easy in cultivation and although it comes from a winter rainfall area it can take water throughout the year.

Haworthia arachnoidea (L.) Duv.

Haworthia arachnoidea is a fairly widespread species which is found in Namaqualand, the Ceres Karoo, the Robertson Karoo and the Little Karoo. The name "arachnoidea". refers to the spiderweb-like appearance of the plants which is the result of numerous fine hairs on the leaves. Haworthia arachnoidea is the type species of the genus Haworthia. H. setata is considered by Bayer to be a synonym of Haworthia arachnoidea, however Scott considers the two to be distinct species. The distribution of several, somewhat similar species overlaps or almost overlaps the distribution of H. arachnoidea. These species are: H.decipiens, unicolor, semiviva, habdomadis and aranea. H. arachnoidea can be distinguished from these species partly on the basis of leaf color which is an opaque, dull green which sometimes turns purple or brown in good light, with very little, if any translucence. This species has quite a range in size and I have seen specimens as small as 40 mm and as large as 150 mm in diameter. These larger forms often have very coarse hairs and the variety gigas was based on these plants which are among the best looking of all haworthias. I have also seen forms from the Ladismith area which are small and covered with numerous very fine hairs. Specimens very similar to these are sometimes seen in collections in the U.S. misidentified as H. aranea.

I have seen H. arachnoidea growing in the following localities: Calitzdorp, Worcester, Mowers Station near Robertson, and between Ceres and Calvinia. At Calitzdorp, the plants were growing in a very dry situation along with Dioscorea elephantipes and Fockea edule. I found the plants growing in a clump of Crassula orbicularis and they were so well hidden, that it was sheer luck that I found them.

At Mowers, the plants were growing on a small, south facing cliff near the top of a hill in conjunction with mosses and ferns. Further down the hill, was H. pumila and on the other side were plants of a form that had characteristics of both H. herbacea and H.reticulata. The plant from the Ceres-Calvinia area was the most exciting. No haworthias were known to grow in this specific area before this plant was found. Bruce Bayer told me that a Haworthia had in fact been reported from this area and we went to look for it. We walked back and forth along a narrow ledge on a cliff overhanging the road. Finally, we did find one specimen. The plant was very small (40 mm) and why this species, which is quite common in other areas, is so rare and small in this area remains a mystery. Other succulents in the area were Pelargonium rhodanthum, P. ananamefolium and Aloe comosa. In the field, H. arachnoidea is known to hybridize with H. graminifolia and H. truncata, both of which are very different looking species. This species is found only in the winter rainfall area. It grows very well, if slowly in cultivation if given a summer rest.

Haworthia emelyae V. Poelln.

Haworthia emelyae is a very beautiful and variable species which is closely related to H. comptoniana. Although the distribution of H. comptoniana is not known, records indicate that it is a very rare species from a relatively small area between Uniondale and Willowmore. This is to the east of the known distribution of H. emelyae. H. emelyae is found at several localities in the Little Karoo and east of Uniondale. H. comptoniana can usually be distinguished from H. emelyae in that it is a smoother, greener species, whereas H. emelyae is at least somewhat scabrous with some purple or brown coloration in the leaves. I have seen specimens, however, of H. comptoniana with purplish leaves and forms of H. emelyae with leaves that are green and smooth. In the field I have seen H. emelyae from Zebra near George and also from Uniondale. In my collection I also have specimens from Robinson Pass, De Rust and Van Wyksdorp. The specimens from Uniondale and De Rust are quite different and it is these specimens that the name H. Uniondalensis has been applied to. The form from Uniondale is one of the most beautiful of all haworthias and is larger than the form from De Rust. At Uniondale, the plants grow next to a population of H. deciepens and a very short distance away from populations of H. divergens and a strange form of H. cooperi. The Japanese use the name H. correcta for the Uniondale form of H. emelyae. The picture of H. correcta in Pilbeam's book is clearly H. turgida. Also synonymous with H. emelyae is H. picta. The name "picta" means pictured or painted and is very descriptive of this species. At Zebra a more typical form of H. emelyae is found. The plants grow flush with the ground and are the same pinkish brown color as the surrounding soil. This camouflages the plants and makes them very hard to find. Other interesting plants found in this area are Pachypodium succulentum and a very small form of Boophane. In the Muiskrall area, near Riverside, there is a population of haworthia which is a hybrid between H. emelyae and H. magnifica var. major, both of which grow near by.

Recently Bayer described H. emelyae var. multifolia. This variety has many more leaves than the typical variety. The leaves of this variety are also sub-erect and not flat like the tropical variety. H. emelyae and H. comptoniana are both very easy to grow. Even though they are both found in the winter rainfall area, they will take water all year round.

Haworthia habdomadis V Poelln

This species was listed as H. inconfluens in Bayer's first book, however the name had to be switched to H. habdomadis because of nomenclatural problems. H. habdomadis is found in the Little Karoo from Anysberg in the West to Uniondale in the East. This species is quite variable and three varieties are recognized. The typical variety (i.e. H. habdomadis var. habdomadis) is the first haworthia I ever saw in habitat. This was at the type locality, Seweweekspoort, which is a very spectacular pass going through the Swartberg mountains. There the plants grow on sheer sandstone cliffs. Plants from this locality often have teeth on the edges of the leaves and some specimens in cultivation look similar to H. decipiens. However, H. decipiens is usually a larger, more robust plant with wider teeth on the leaves. Growing on the cliffs with H. habdomadis is a small species of Conophytum and, at the bottom of the canyon, you find Dioscorea glauca.

H. habdomadis var. inconfluens (V. Poelln.) Bayer is the only one of the three subspecies that I have not seen in the wild. The plants of this subspecies from the most westerly part of their range, near Anysberg, look very much like H. cymbiformis var. transiens.

H. habdomadis var. morrisiae (V. Poelln.) Bayer is quite different from the typical variety in that it has no teeth on the leaves and the leaves are a bright green or yellow-green in color. I saw this species south of Oudtshoorn on the way to George. The plants were found by Frank Horwood next to the road where we had stopped for lunch. The plants were growing in a reddish soil under bushes and their bright green color, plus the fact that several were cespitose, made them very easy to find.