Haworthia indigoa Hayashi
By Gerhard Marx - 1 August 2023
When Vincent de Vries first encountered a population of these plants way back in 1998, his initial impression was that he had found a form of Haworthia magnifica var. atrofusca in the Little Karoo as these plants looked identical to some populations of H. atrofusca in the Riversdale area. It turns out that his first impression was not entirely absurd.
These plants are growing a short distance north of the Outeniqua Mountains to the west of the Molen river in the Little Karoo. Up to then the only known retusoid species within the Little Karoo were Haworthia picta (emelyae) and Haworthia bayeri.
Haworthia indigoa is clearly and very obviously unrelated to H. picta but it shares the dark leaf colour and scabrid skin texture with H. bayeri. But when H. indigoa is compared to members of the H. mirabilis-magnifica groups and in particular H. atrofusca, it seems virtually identical. Its soft slender flowers and summer flowering time are also the same as that of atrofusca. Both H. bayeri and H. picta flower in spring (August to October) while H. indigoa consistently flowers in early summer (December-January).
Currently two populations of H. indigoa are known about 10 km apart.
The only conceivable reason why H. indigoa has been ‘officially’ considered to be just a form of H. bayeri must be because it occurs in the Little Karoo.
The first pictures below shows H. indigoa on the left and H. atrofusca ( south of Riversdale) on the right:
