Die Nekkies – a selection of Haworthia maculata plants with their leaf faces and backs showing variability over this extensive area.
I took the following photographs originally just to show how much the leaves varied in the species. The only locality data record was Die Nekkies with no differentiation into populations. The variability was firmly established and became apparent even within populations where the degree of variation surprised even me. It was also extrapolated across the genus.
As an afterthought, this turned my mind to Farden and Smith’s observation about the idiocy of trying to make varieties in Haworthia attenuata on the basis of leaf characters where the individual leaves varied so much that several varieties could be detected from the same plant. This is exactly what Breuer, Marx and Hayashi are actually doing when they get carried away by their justification for new species, drawing conclusions from single plants because of the inability of the mind to hold many images. This is exactly the way in which “H. magnifica” is maintained as a species when the imagery is based on the original single plant originally described. There can be no such thing as “H. magnifica” because the variation across the range of populations from Riversdale to Riviersonderend is so immense and complex.
The following photographs show a random selection of plants and their leaf faces and backs from Die Nekkies. These were taken some time ago when I did not record actual populations. They do record the variability of plants and leaves over this wide area which I classify as Haworthia maculata. For subsequently photographed plants I have recorded my population collection numbers which are indicated on the map found in Die Nekkies Haworthia – A further visit and updated information.
8019. Haworthia maculata, Die Nekkies – each plant with leaf back and face
8020. Haworthia maculata, Die Nekkies
8021. Haworthia maculata, Die Nekkies
8022. Haworthia maculata, Die Nekkies
7526. Haworthia maculata, Die Nekkies, Brandvlei Dam (Incorrectly identified as 7426 in the paper edition of Volume 11.)
-ed. Another way to consider the variation within the Die Nekkies populations is to browse the tip faces and backs …
Haworthia maculata leaf tips – faces
Haworthia maculata leaf tips – backs