Gasteria brachyphylla var. bayeri | Gasteria 'Joya de Badspoort'
€37,10
🌱 Morphology
A small, slow-growing, compact, and highly decorative Gasteria that forms low rosettes and may produce offsets from the base. It is clearly distinguished from the typical variety by its much smaller and spreading leaves, barely 1.5–5 cm long and up to about 2.8 cm wide. They are fleshy, lanceolate to lingulate, initially erect and later spreading or slightly recurved, with a characteristically truncate or rounded apex, rather than the pointed apex of G. brachyphylla var. brachyphylla. The surface is smooth or slightly rugose and features the typical pattern of whitish spots grouped in transverse bands.
Its small size makes the inflorescences particularly striking: they can reach about 25–28 cm, several times the height of the plant, and end in surprisingly large flowers for such a tiny Gasteria.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Family Asphodelaceae, tribe Alooideae, section Gasteria, series Gasteria, genus Gasteria.
It is a very localized variety of the Klein Karoo, Western Cape (South Africa), known from a few sites in the Badspoort hills, near Calitzdorp, and in the vicinity of Vanwyksdorp. It grows in Succulent Karoo environments, among xerophytic shrubs that provide shade and camouflage, on sandy and well-drained soils derived from sandstone, shale, and other rocky materials. The region receives approximately 200–300 mm of annual rainfall, distributed between winter and summer, although with marked summer dryness.
The variety was collected by H. H. Bolus in March 1932 and described by Ernst van Jaarsveld in 1992; the epithet bayeri honors Bruce Bayer, former curator of the Karoo National Botanical Garden.
❄️ Temperature — USDA 9a
It tolerates minimum temperatures down to −7 ºC. For cultivation, however, it is recommended to protect it from intense frost and especially from prolonged cold humidity.
☀️ Lighting
Shade–partial shade, with abundant brightness but avoiding strong sun during the central hours of the day, especially during the Mediterranean summer. In its habitat, it grows protected among shrubs. Indicative DLI PAR: 10–20 mol/m²/day.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Opportunistic. Although it comes from a region with marked summer dryness, SANBI indicates that G. brachyphylla is best grown by providing water throughout the year, always allowing the substrate to dry between waterings. Frequency should be reduced during the coldest periods.
🌸 Flowering
It blooms mainly from late spring to mid-summer. The inflorescence reaches about 28 cm and the flowers, large for the plant's small size, have a perianth of approximately 18 mm, tubular and swollen at the base, pinkish in tone with a white upper part and green striations. It can reach flowering size at approximately 4 years.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, Desert CHOICE® Aloes, Haworthias & Co. is recommended, with a high content of potassium and bioavailable calcium. It is applied with watering, reducing or suspending fertilization during summer dormancy.
12x12 cm gourmet black pot
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot, with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
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