Haworthia cooperi

Haworthia cooperi
The type variety, Haworthia cooperi var. cooperi.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asphodelaceae
Subfamily: Asphodeloideae
Genus: Haworthia
Species: H. cooperi
Binomial name
Haworthia cooperi
(Baker.)

Haworthia cooperi is a diverse and varied species of the genus Haworthia in the family Asphodelaceae, endemic to the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa.

Description

Plants grow in clumps of small rosettes of tiny, fleshy, light green leaves. As one of the soft green group of Haworthias it is frequently confused with its relatives (e.g. Haworthia cymbiformis, Haworthia mucronata and Haworthia marumiana).

A distinctive feature is the slight bristley "awn" on the margins of the leaves of most varieties. In some, the leaves terminate in a long bristle or thread. Its leaves are not recurved like the "retuse" Haworthias (e.g. Haworthia mirabilis or Haworthia retusa).

Another feature is that the leaves have transparent streaks around their tips. With some varieties, the entire leaf tip is transparent. In the wild, the sun is very bright, and the plant grows mostly buried by sand with only these transparent tips above the ground.

Distribution

The natural range of this species is in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Here is occurs roughly between Port Elizabeth and East London in the east. This range closely matches that of its relative, Haworthia cymbiformis, and the two species interact, with H.cymboformis growing on the cliffs, and H.cooperi growing on the lowland plains. At certain points, the two species merge.[1]

This is a summer rainfall region.

This is also a highly variable species - with several different varieties.[2][3][4]

Varieties

This diverse species has a large number of varieties:


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References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.