Haworthiopsis viscosa new leaf addition

New Haworthiopsis viscosa leaves emerge at stem-tips, pointing up. Their successors, soon to follow, push them outwards to join the three leaf ranks at the proper angle, precisely and evenly aligned around the stems.

The young leaves in picture are olive-green, one of several options in H. viscosa leaf colouring. The in-folded, smooth leaves have whitish margins here, appearing cartilaginous.

Their angularity and pointed tips might suggest that browsers would more likely choose the more softly rounded leaves of the succulent, young Crassula rupestris in the foreground. Not so!

H. viscosa is a heavily browsed succulent in the Little Karoo, while C. rupestris takes over in veld where the spekboom, Portulacaria afra, has been browsed into retreat by all kinds of herbivores (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015).