Gasteria
Family: Asphodelaceae
Habitat: South Africa and Namibia
Cultivation: The gasteria is a plant easy to grow and very resistant to drought and requires little attention. Avoid direct sun, water regularly every 5-6 days, taking care to avoid water stagnation.
Curiosity: Its name comes from the greek Gastèr, that means belly, stomach, which refers to the shape of the flower bell-shaped, reminds a small bag which then narrows towards the top.
GASTERIA KEY FEATURES
The succulents of Gasteria gender are relatives of the Aloe, in fact they can hybridize with them to form the Gasteraloe (see chart). They are however very versatile plants, which can also be hybridized with other genres such as Haworthias. They appear as dense rosettes with fleshy leaves, long and flat, which can be arranged either in a spiral shape or in pairs, one opposite to the other. The color is dark green but enriched with lines, dots or light streaks depending on the variety. To the touch, the leaves are silky. What distinguishes them from Aloe is the shape of the flower, which also gives its name to the genre: from the center of the rosette depart in fact stems with red bell-shaped flowers, pink, white or greenish color that are swollen at the base and narrower at the top , thus reminding the shape of a stomach.
VARIETY AND TYPES
Below we listed the various species belonging to the genus Gasteria. We remind you that you will find several of them in our online shop, in the section dedicated to Gasteria.
- G. batesiana
- G. bicolor
- G. baylissiana
- G. brachyphylla
- G. carinata
- G. croucheri
- G. disticha
- G. doreeniae
- G. ellaphieae
- G. excelsa
- G. glauca
- G. glomerata
- G. gracilis
- G. liliputana
- G. little warty
- G. nigricans
- G. nitida
- G. obliqua
- G. pendulifolia
- G. pillansii
- G. polita
- G. pseudonigricans
- G. pulchra
- G. rawlinsonii
- G. tukhelensis
- G. verrucosa
- G. vlokii van Jaarsv
TIPS FOR GROWING
The gasteria is a plant easy to grow and very resistant to drought and requires little attention. These are our tips for growing:
- For what concerns the exposure to light, the ideal solution is a bright area but not under the direct rays of the sun: these may in fact cause reddish sunburn and mitigate the effect of contrast of the various streaks on the leaves .
- Be careful! Never leave the plant below 7 ° C; as winter approaches it is good to put indoor even those plants that live outside.
- Water regularly in summer once every 5-6 days, and then gradually decrease and stop in winter.
- The soil must be very draining. For example, you can use a mix of peat and sand or, alternatively, also a standard soil for cacti.
- During the growing season, give a specific fertilizer for succulents once a month.
- The repotting is sufficient once every 3-4 years; it is in fact a slow-growing plant.
The easiest way to multiply the Gasteria is by cutting using the suckers, which generally grow abundant at the base of the plant. You can also use the leaves as cuttings, but it is difficult that they take root either because they tend to rot or because, on the contrary, they were made dry out before being buried.
The Gasteria also reproduces by seeds : the seeds will be put underground in a very sandy soil, to be kept always moist and at a temperature of about 21 ° C.
