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Gasteria armstrongii (Flat-leaf Gasteria) - A stemless succulent to 2 inches tall with opposite distichous pairs of thick succulent dark green strap-shaped 2 inch long leaves that have acute leaf tips. The leaf surface is rough to the touch with irregular tuberculate transverse bands and in cultivation the leaves rise just above horizontal, but in habitat are generally flat to the ground. Young plants remain solitary but eventually will pup out to form small clusters. In late spring and early summer appear the unbranched flower stalks to 12 to 20 inches bearing nearly inch long pendulous reddish-pink flowers.
Plant in a well-drained soil in part sun to bright shade. Can be grown in the ground if away from other larger more aggressive plants that might cover it, but also makes a nice potted specimen.
Gasteria armstrongii grows in the wild on the Renosterveld flats between Jeffreys Bay and the Gamtoos River of the Eastern Cape Province where it is found almost embedded in the ground and often hidden among rocks and grasses. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'gaster' meaning "stomach", in reference to the swollen shape of the base of the flower and the specific epithet was a name the botanist Selmar Schönland, the director of the Albany Museum in Grahamstown, gave the plant in 1912 to honor William Armstrong, a plant enthusiast from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It was reduced Gasteria nitida variety armstrongii by Ernst van Jaarsveld in 1992 but elevated back to the specific level in 2005 based on DNA analysis conducted by Ben Zonneveld and Ernst van Jaarsveld. Gasteria nitida is a bigger plant with smooth leaves that, while distichous like G. armstrongii when young, becomes rosulate with age. The individual flowers of the two species are similar, but G. nitida has a branching inflorescence while B. armstrongii is solitary. Brian Kemble notes that it is almost like Gasteria armstrongii were a form of G. nitida that never grew up. Our stock plants from plants originally received in 2004 from Stockton, California succulent grower Alice Waidhofer. Photo on this page courtesy of Brian Kemble, curator at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.
Information displayed on this page about Gasteria armstrongii is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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