Tulista pumila in flower among friends

Tulista pumila, previously Haworthia maxima, grows a large rosette body of leaves. It was said to be the closest Haworthia to Cape Town in natural habitat. Now another Haworthia will have to be identified for this honour. The plant is sometimes mistaken for an Aloe (and used to be classified as one in the past).

The erect leaves that curve up from the base form a compact rosette with many conspicuous greenish-white tubercles, wart-like protuberances scattered along the leaf surfaces. In summer T. pumila produces an elaborately branched panicle of flowers. While the inflorescence is large, the individual flowers are small.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape around Worcester and Robertson to Matjiesfontein.

The habitat is succulent Karoo, the plants often growing sheltered under shrubs. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

If the current name of T. pumila is to be retained for all the variations of the plant that exist, expect to see considerable intraspecies variations in nature and gardens (Scott, 1985; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).