The more widely known name, Gasteria bicolor, along with more than 40 less widely known names, is now considered a synonym of G. obliqua. Its wide range and multiplicity of intergrading forms explains the profusion of names. Most forms, however, have distichous (fan-shaped) “rosettes” of thick, straight leaves, convex on both sides, that are dark, glossy green ornamented with white spots. The form offered here has all of that but differs in that it really is rosulate, with the fan of leaves spiraling in maturity to create a very attractive, symmetrical rosette to 25 cm (10 in) diameter. Rosette leaves are asymmetrical, sculpted like a propeller blade, with a lateral keel lined in white connecting white dots like beads on a string. The flowers have the typical, gasteriform, inflated corollas of the genus, lined up on the arching inflorescences in pendent rows like colorful penguins. We offer rooted plants of HBG 54036, a form collected by Seymour Linden (SL 84-068), November 17, 1984, along a dirt road heading to Alexandria from Grahamstown, at Km 1240, near Alexandria, Eastern Cape, South Africa. $12.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 95 (2), Summer 2023