Mirabilis Travels was a series of Haworthia shucked Facebook posts in 2022.

There is not much that I can now usefully do so I am going to switch attention to H. mirabilis. If any one species exemplifies the complexity of the genus it must be this. When I first started organising field information I ran headlong into host of names with very little to relate them to in the field. Now I recognize that it is that mirabilis forms a dark coloured summer flowering half of a single system that extends from southwest of Bredasdorp all the way to east of Mossel Bay, while also extending into the Little Karoo. In no particular order, here is the “var. notabilis” from east of Worcester. My great regret is that I have no digital record of a great stretch of exploration prior to about 2002.

Wheeeee!! It really stretches the imagination. Just randomly diving in was a bad idea. So I add fuel to the fire by showing these in the no-man’s-land between “systems”. This mirabilis is west of Swellendam and both this and the previous “notabilis” cast light (or shadow) on the relation of the retusa (turgida)/mirabilis system and that of herbacea/reticulata/maculata/pubescens of the Worcester/Robertson area. The near presence of a floribunda variant is added value. One could almost argue for a restatement of the situation where mirabilis and turgida are established as generic names with many species (population variants) attached. Notice how I interchange turgida and retusa – I explain that the taxonomic system trips itself with its own rules. Priority means that retusa holds sway over turgida, when in fact it is more probable that turgida is the genetically and historically dominant.

I have over 200 folders of mirabilis localities just since 2000 and no picture records for the 30 preceding years. Much posted for this species in HaworthiaUpdates.org, but nothing can help dismiss the unbelief that these could all be one species. Here is just a blind selection of 7 pictures to show how improbable it all seems … imagine another few hundred variants!