Gasteria polita

Gasteria polita, sometimes called the polished oxtongue, is a small to medium plant in its genus, usually a solitary rosette formed at ground level.

The thick, triangular to strap-shaped leaves are dark green and smooth with white dots, sometimes scattered, sometimes in transverse bands across the blades, occurring on both surfaces. The ridged keels on the lower surfaces are off-centre, the upper surfaces concave with thickly ridged marginal rims. The leaf-tips are bluntly pointed to somewhat rounded.

The inflorescence is a raceme, sometimes divided into a few-branched panicle. Several racemes may grow from one rosette in a season. The narrow, pendulous and stalked perianths are pink in their lower parts, only ending in greenish tips that are white-striped and curved. Flowering happens in winter or early spring.

The rare localised species occurs in the far southeast of the Western Cape coast near Nature’s Valley to the southwest of the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken at Natures Valley.

The habitat is semi-exposed fynbos among shrubs on slopes, steep embankments and outcrops in evergreen forest. Although rare, the plant is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to the protected status of the terrain where it grows (Frandsen, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).