Gasteria armstrongii
Gasteria armstrongii (synonym Gasteria nitida var. armstrongii) is a dwarf succulent plant native to South Africa, in the genus Gasteria. Description This slow-growing species is closely related to the similar, but much larger, Gasteria nitida species of the South African grasslands, and their bright reddish-pink flowers are very similar. In some classification schemes, it is even classed as a variety within this species, and in cultivation G. armstrongii can resemble juvenile plants of G. nitida. For those who treat it as a separate species, Gasteria armstrongii can be distinguished by its very dark, retuse, distichous, roughly tuberculate leaves. Its inflorescences are also solitary. G. nitida is much larger, with smooth leaves that grow in a rosette, not distichous. Its inflorescences are branched. Taxonomy Gasteria armstrongii was first described by Selmar Schönland in 1912. It was reduced to the variety armstrongii of Gasteria nitida by Ernst van Jaarsveld in 1992, a status accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Distribution This species occurs in only a few spots in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Here is occurs along the Gamtoos river, in a vegetation type named "Humansdorp Shale Renosterveld". At the edge of its habitat it gradually transforms