ISI 2026-20. Haworthia truncata 'Nazca'.
Haworthia truncataSchoenland has always been remarkable for the artificial look of its truncate leaves. While it may appear to the uninitiated that the leaves have been cut flat, this is, in fact, the natural shape of the leaves. When lined up in distichous rosettes, these resemble the broadened molar teeth of some large, herbivorous mammal. These leaves provide one of the prime examples of the windowed leaf adaptation (along with various mesembs like Fenestrariaand the more succulent-leaved Peruvian Peperomiaspecies. See ISI 2026-25) whereby the bulk of the plant body can stay protected from herbivores and desiccation underground while light can enter the translucent "windows" of the truncate leaf tip to be used for photosynthesis. The largely subterranean nature of the plants also provides a degree of crypsis, further protection from herbivores. Perhaps this explains why this now so popular subject of succulent collections was not described to science until the late date of 1910. The species is native to the Western Cape Province of South Africa where some natural variation can be observed. This variation has been exploited by breeders, initially in Japan, but now worldwide, to enhance various characteristics including size of the translucent, windowed leaf tip, texture of the leaf surface, and the degree of lineation or markings in the windows that add to its camouflage. The selection offered here is named to allude to these markings which ornament the large leaf tips that otherwise look like globs of jelly. The mysterious Nazca lines of Peru, created by ancient peoples for spiritual expression, are the inspiration for the cultivar name. The selection can be propagated vegetatively by division or root cuttings, but this can be an excruciatingly slow process. In nature, these fleshy roots not only store water but can be contractile, pulling the plant down into the sheltering soil. Should some persistent herbivore manage to dig deep enough to eat the entire rosette, the fleshy roots have the potential to resprout and grow new rosettes. Alternatively, tissue culture of a young inflorescence affords non-destructive sampling and relatively rapid multiplication in culture for this offering. HBG 122883, tissue cultured plants of a plant originally received from Haworthiabreeder, Renny Wong, September 25, 2014.
Limit, one per customer.
Photo © 2026 by Karen Zimmerman.
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