€26,50

🌱 Morphology
   An ancient Japanese cultivar, extraordinarily compact and very slow-growing, prized for its exceptionally thick, short, and dense leaves. It forms a small, stemless rosette, generally solitary at first, although it can multiply through basal offsets. The leaves are short, robust, and tongue-shaped, ranging from whitish-gray to grayish-green, with a very fleshy and smooth surface. A few dark green markings appear against the light background, usually concentrated toward the central area of the upper face, creating a very distinct contrast.

The leaf tips can be blunt and end in a small point, although there is some variability between clones. The overall appearance is almost mineral, very different from the typical mottled pattern of many Gasteria. Alsterworthia highlights precisely its very thick and chubby, gray-white leaves with sparse green markings, noting that it is a very slow-growing cultivar with limited availability.

It is propagated vegetatively via offsets, so commercial specimens maintain the characteristics of the clone. 

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Family Asphodelaceae, tribe Alooideae. ‘Isomatsu’ is a horticultural cultivar, not a wild taxon, and therefore does not have a natural distribution of its own. Its cultivated origin is Japanese, and it belongs to the ancient heritage of Gasteria grown in Japan.

It should not be assigned to a specific wild species without further evidence: although some commercial sources have linked it to Gasteria gracilis, the specialized documentation consulted does not allow for establishing that parentage with sufficient certainty. Therefore, it is correctly maintained as Gasteria ‘Isomatsu’.

❄️ Temperature — USDA 9a
Tolerates minimum temperatures down to −4 ºC. Due to its extremely slow growth and very fleshy leaves, it is recommended to avoid the combination of intense cold and damp substrate.

☀️ Lighting
Shade–partial shade, with plenty of indirect light. Excessively intense lighting can cause stress and chromatic changes in the leaves, while insufficient light encourages more open growth. Indicative DLI PAR: 10–20 mol/m²/day. In Japanese cultivation, it is recommended to protect it from strong summer sun and provide it with more intense light during winter.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Opportunistic. It is recommended to water when the substrate has dried out completely, allowing it to dry again before the next watering. During cold periods, the frequency is considerably reduced, while in warm seasons it can receive more regular waterings if there is good ventilation and drainage.

🌸 Flowering
Information published specifically for the ‘Isomatsu’ cultivar is scarce and does not allow for a reliable determination of its own flowering season or an exact age for first flowering. As it is a Gasteria cultivar of undocumented parentage, a typical flowering for the genus can be expected, with erect inflorescences and hanging tubular flowers adapted to pollination by nectarivorous birds, but it is not considered reliable to attribute the flowering data of a specific species to it here.

🌿 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 the 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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