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''Gasteria carinata'' ("Bredasdorp Gasteria" or "Keeled Gasteria") is a small and variable
This is a highly variable species. Typically it has sharp, triangular leaves, mottled in colour and channeled on their upper surface. The leaves have sharp points at their tips, and usually have keels in mature plants. The tiny spots on the leaves are arranged in bands, giving the leaves faint stripes (similar to '' Gasteria batesiana'').
It is proliferous and can form dense clumps.
This is a variable species, with a range of officially defined varieties, and also with several unofficial forms - several of which have become popular ornamental cultivars.
Gasteria thunbergii - PlantzAfrica Information Page
/ref> * ''G. carinata var. verrucosa'': (lower Breede river and its tributaries, as far north as near Heidelberg, as well as limestones on the southern coast) Leaves
succulent
In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
, native to the Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
Province, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
Description
This is a highly variable species. Typically it has sharp, triangular leaves, mottled in colour and channeled on their upper surface. The leaves have sharp points at their tips, and usually have keels in mature plants. The tiny spots on the leaves are arranged in bands, giving the leaves faint stripes (similar to '' Gasteria batesiana'').
It is proliferous and can form dense clumps.
Distribution
The natural range of this species is the southern stretch of theWestern Cape
The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...
Province, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Here it occurs in rocky areas in Renosterveld
Renosterveld is a term used for one of the major plant communities and vegetation types of the Cape Floristic Region (Cape Floral Kingdom) which is located in southwestern and southeastern South Africa, in southernmost Africa. It is an ecoregion ...
and Fynbos
Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...
vegetation, between Hermanus and Mossel Bay.
Its closest relative is the enormous "Dune Gasteria ('' Gasteria acinacifolia'') to the east.
Natural variation
This is a variable species, with a range of officially defined varieties, and also with several unofficial forms - several of which have become popular ornamental cultivars.
Defined varieties
* ''G. carinata var. carinata'': The type variety, and most common one. Leaves in a rosette. Each leaf keeled, and tuberculate. * ''G. carinata var. glabra'': (east of Gouritz river) Leaves in a rosette. Each leaf keeled, but smooth and glabrous, not tuberculate. * ''G. carinata var. retusa'': (to the north-west near Worcester) Leavesdistichous
In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.
Leaf arrangement
The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...
, oblong and strap-shaped rather than keeled, and erect-spreading. Each leaf has a retuse or truncate apex. It resembles '' Gasteria disticha'' and '' Gasteria brachyphylla'', but can be distinguished by the presence of tubercles on its undulate-margined leaves. Sometimes considered a separate species, '' Gasteria retusa''.
* ''G. carinata var. thunbergii'': (from Herbertsdale and along the Gouritz river) Leaves distichous
In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.
Leaf arrangement
The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...
, but thin, upright, pointed (not retuse), often deeply-channeled leaves and with tubercles arranged in distinctive transverse lines. Sometimes considered a separate species, ''Gasteria thunbergii''./ref> * ''G. carinata var. verrucosa'': (lower Breede river and its tributaries, as far north as near Heidelberg, as well as limestones on the southern coast) Leaves
distichous
In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.
Leaf arrangement
The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...
, upright, pointed (not retuse) and with dense white tubercles not in transverse arrangement.
Undefined forms
* "Melkbos" is a large, tubercled form * "Kykoedie" is a small, compact, tubercled form, with fat, triangular leaves only 60mm long. * "Mossel Bay" is an eastern, proliferous, smooth form, with spots in bands on its strap-shaped leaves * "Groot Brak" is a similar eastern, proliferous, smooth form, with fainter spots * "Klein Brak" has long triangular leaves with faint spotsReferences
{{Taxonbar, from=Q154223 Flora of the Cape Provinces carinata