Zarosli: A Private Botanical Study

Zarosli: A Private Botanical Study A private collection of naturally occurring plant species. A quiet study in cultivated biodiversity. No sales.

With these endless reels, social media, advertising, doomscrolling, and all the rest of this noise, I began to forget wh...
09/12/2025

With these endless reels, social media, advertising, doomscrolling, and all the rest of this noise, I began to forget what the internet used to be when it was just developing. It was a revolutionary territory for creativity and the sharing of knowledge, offering the chance to build a new, more just, less hierarchical and less regulated society, where little was available ready-made, but much could be created by oneself if the desire was there.

The symbolic end of that era came in 2013 with the death of the technical genius and one of the inventors of the RSS standard, Aaron Swartz. At the age of twenty-six, he was driven to su***de by the white-collar administrators and lawyers of jstor.org, threatening him with thirty-five years in prison for supposedly stealing pdf files of academic papers that by their very nature ought to be accessible to everyone.

Since then, the internet that I know and value has narrowed to local forums, Tor, peer-to-peer networks, torrents, pirate libraries, and now also cryptocurrency, which was created precisely as a means of withdrawing financial flows from state control.

By minimising my interaction with Facebook, which is an empty shell, a simulacrum of communication and a simulacrum of creativity, I remembered this. Combining my passion for plants, programming, analytics, hacktivism, and anarchic structures, I set myself the task of building several databases for local use and research in a format that is convenient for me. I will note immediately that I do not plan any distribution of copyrighted content (to preempt possible appeals to copyright, although I have major concerns about applying offline concepts of copyright to online material).

At the moment, the following have been downloaded:

- whole site, the site with works of Bruce Bayer haworthiaupdates.org (10 Gb, 25 thousand files)

- whole site, the site of Jakub Jilemicky haworthia-gasteria.blogspot.com (2.6 Gb, 13 thousand files)

- in tabular form, the list of field or catalogue numbers and data on locality, sizes, and prices from the site of Ernst and Marita Specks specks-exotica.com, entirely from archived versions on web.archive.org, since the site is no longer available (3400 rows)

- in tabular form, the list of field or catalogue numbers and data on locality, sizes, and prices from the site of Robert and Theresa Wellens succulent-tissue-culture.com, entirely from archived versions on web.archive.org, since the site is no longer available (343 rows)

- in tabular form, the list of field or catalogue numbers and data on locality, sizes, and prices from mesagarden.com, from archived versions on web.archive.org of the old site by Steven Brack, because the new site is a complete and utterly inconvenient mess (25 thousand rows)

- photographs, the entire photographic archive with correct labels by Cok Grootscholten (32 Gb, 46 thousand photographs)

- photographs, the entire available photographic archive by Martin Scott (1 GB, 1700 photographs)

- the entire photographic archive of plants by Ingo Breuer from eden-plants.com with correct labels, including field number, plant name, locality, and name according to Bruce Bayer (1 Gb, 8 thousand photographs)

- in tabular form, the list of species, localities, and geocoding in quarter-degree squares like 3122AD from the site of Jakub Jilemicky haworthia-gasteria.blogspot.com (this is particularly convenient to work with when it is necessary to verify correct spelling of localities, confirm correct geocoding, or simply see what grows in that grid) (3200 rows)

- in tabular form, the list of field numbers and data on locality, sizes, prices, and dates of appearance of plants from the site of Ingo Breuer eden-plants.com (including all archived versions on web.archive.org) (16 thousand rows)

And all of this is already greatly helping me in researching and systematising my plant collection.

Not really writing anything here because a lot is going on in life, and not all of it is good. There is no desire to com...
06/12/2025

Not really writing anything here because a lot is going on in life, and not all of it is good. There is no desire to communicate with anyone, and Facebook is idiotic and demotivating, suppressing original content in favour of worthless junk and paid posts. It feels like writing into the void, as if talking only to myself. Seriously considering leaving Facebook altogether and opening a WordPress blog when there is finally some drive to write.

From the latest news, a Python parser was made that allowed me to download the entire photo archive of the late Cok Grootscholten (32 Gb, almost 50 thousand photos). No clarity on how long those photos will remain available online, and this archive is a very valuable catalogue of how various natural plant forms look like in cultivation, so I downloaded it entirely.

Haworthiopsis attenuata (Soutkloof, S. Addo) ex-Steven HammerI like having common species with a field number and locali...
13/11/2025

Haworthiopsis attenuata (Soutkloof, S. Addo) ex-Steven Hammer

I like having common species with a field number and locality - those that are usually very widespread in collections. It allows me to compare what circulates among collectors with what actually occurs in nature. Sometimes there are surprises.

This one, for example, is Haworthiopsis attenuata (Soutkloof, S. Addo) from Steven Hammer. Haworthiopsis attenuata, in general, is one of the most common and recognisable succulents in the world. However, not everything that bears the name attenuata is truly that species.

The main feature that distinguishes attenuata from other species is the presence of characteristic white tubercles on both (!) leaf surfaces - upper and lower. On the outer side of the leaf, the tubercles are more prominent and often merge into clear transverse bands, creating a "zebra" effect. But the inner side of the leaf also has tubercles: they may be smaller and more randomly scattered, but they are there. Any plant claiming to be H. attenuata whose inner leaf surface is perfectly smooth is something else.

In addition, Bayer noted another feature: if you break a fresh leaf of H. attenuata, it breaks cleanly, like a bean pod. It does not contain the tough white fibers that can be pulled out of the break. This trait distinguishes it from the similar Haworthiopsis fasciata, which, by the way, is much less common in collections, and many plants sold under that name are in fact either attenuata or hybrids.

I will not be breaking any leaves, as it is already clear that the tubercles are present on both sides of the leaf. And it has never occurred to me to doubt Steven Hammer’s expertise.

The Haworthia Society has shut down the Alsterworthia website, where all issues of Harry Mays’ journal "Alsterworthia In...
11/11/2025

The Haworthia Society has shut down the Alsterworthia website, where all issues of Harry Mays’ journal "Alsterworthia International" were previously available for free download, and has now uploaded the same PDF issues to its online shop for sale. Access to knowledge that was recently freely available now costs 30 pounds.

I do appreciate that the Haworthia Society has digitised the special issues, which weren't available earlier, and made them available in their shop as well. But turning the previously free regular issues into paid content is an unbelievably vile move.

At a time when others, myself included, are trying to promote a deeper understanding of Haworthias, making what was once free now paid only serves to restrict knowledge and make it even more elitist.

What will you gain? A few hundred pounds? And in return, you have drastically narrowed the circle of those who could have been inspired by this knowledge, just as I once was, when I had no money but eagerly read everything I could find online.

I have all the issues of Alsterworthia, both in digital and printed form. But I am deeply bothered by this growing tendency to restrict access to knowledge, especially to that which was already available before.

I think I will make myself a backup copy of Bruce Bayer’s website haworthiaupdates.org, just in case - who knows, it might also go behind a paywall one day.

This is nonsense.

Haworthiopsis coarctata 'greenii' was described almost 150 years ago by Baker as a separate species, greenii. Despite th...
11/11/2025

Haworthiopsis coarctata 'greenii' was described almost 150 years ago by Baker as a separate species, greenii. Despite the similarity to the English word for the colour green, the plant was named in honour of the British botanist Charles Green. Later, Bruce Bayer reduced greenii first to the rank of variety, and then even further, to the rank of form.

The form greenii is a variant of coarctata with slightly shorter leaves and almost no white tubercles. Some clones may have faintly visible white speckles, but overall, it is a smooth, glossy plant lacking the characteristic white spots, essentially a "glabrous-like" morphotype of the species.

In my collection, I also have plants labelled as Haworthia coarctata DMC0637 Howiesons Poort, which, upon closer analysis, turned out to be identical to the form greenii, since they originate from the same locality.

Haworthia mirabilis var. beukmannii is a narrow endemic that grows exclusively on shale outcrops in the Caledon district...
10/11/2025

Haworthia mirabilis var. beukmannii is a narrow endemic that grows exclusively on shale outcrops in the Caledon district of the Western Cape Province. From a conservation perspective, these plants are classified as Critically Endangered (CR) according to the SANBI Red List. The main threat is targeted illegal collecting for international trade, which is exacerbated by the natural rarity of this taxon and its slow rate of propagation.

The plants were described by Karl von Poellnitz in 1940, who originally assigned this taxon to H. emelyae and named it in honor of C. Beukman, a plant collector who actively gathered specimens in the Caledon region, including during an expedition to the Greyton area, where he discovered the plants that were later sent to Poellnitz. In 1999, Bayer recognized beukmannii not as part of emelyae, which occurs elsewhere in the Little Karoo, but as a localized form within the highly variable H. mirabilis from the southern Cape.

The original type specimen (holotype) collected by Beukman has not survived. It shared the fate of most of Poellnitz’s collection. Poellnitz was killed, and his home and herbarium were destroyed in Germany during the Allied bombings in 1945, in the final days of World War II. The physical specimens he had sent to the Berlin Botanical Museum were also destroyed during an earlier bombing in 1943.

The distribution range of H. mirabilis var. beukmannii is extremely limited. The plants occur only in the Western Cape Province, within the Caledon district. Geographically, it is known only from a narrow belt between the towns of Greyton and Riviersonderend, with just five subpopulations recorded. Even a seemingly "minor" level of collecting represents an existential threat due to the "vulnerable population size" and "poor recruitment and recovery."

In the South African National Red List (SANBI), this taxon holds the status CR B1ab(iii,v) - Critically Endangered. The criteria B1 (extremely limited extent of occurrence), a (severely fragmented population), and b(iii,v) (continuing projected decline in habitat quality and in the number of mature individuals) confirm its status.

In addition to the CR status, SANBI has designated this taxon as a "Sensitive Species." This designation has a specific administrative purpose: data on its precise localities are withheld from public databases to protect it from further exploitation. The plants are threatened not only by general habitat degradation but also by deliberate illegal collecting for international trade.

I have two plants, and as it turned out, both are from Specks’ Exotica nursery:

- Haworthia mirabilis v. beukmannii ES15871 VA-DW 06-43 (near Greyton)
- Haworthia mirabilis v. beukmannii ES15640 (Nethercourt, SE of Greyton)

Haworthia mirabilis v. badia VA 6423 STC 80451 (4 km S Napier)I see that in collections there are both relatively small ...
09/11/2025

Haworthia mirabilis v. badia VA 6423 STC 80451 (4 km S Napier)

I see that in collections there are both relatively small brown plants with completely smooth leaves (matching the classic description of badia), and larger green ones with marginal teeth. Jakub writes on his website that the type locality near Napier is almost completely destroyed, but there’s another one - Sandfontein - where the plants somewhat resemble H. mirabilis var. triebneriana, although these two populations do not overlap.

The characteristic traits of triebneriana are precisely a more massive body, a tendency toward green colouration (while badia, on the contrary, tends toward brown), and the presence of marginal teeth. So, this one is from Sandfontein locality, since the distance from Napier to Sandfontein farm is exactly 4 kilometres to the south.

Haworthia mutica - without locality or field number, but I like those white stripes a lot.
07/11/2025

Haworthia mutica - without locality or field number, but I like those white stripes a lot.

I wrote a Python parser that extracted all historical snapshots of the now-defunct website of Ernst and Marita Specks, s...
06/11/2025

I wrote a Python parser that extracted all historical snapshots of the now-defunct website of Ernst and Marita Specks, specks-exotica.com, from web.archive.org, crawled them, and compiled a complete list of all plants that were once offered for sale - including their catalog numbers, locality comments (where available), as well as price and pot size (since I was parsing the data anyway).

This is useful because sometimes you come across, for example, Gasteria rawlinsonii ES13231, but there is no contextual information available, and it is not even clear whether the catalogue number is correct. Now it is - Gasteria rawlinsonii ES13231 (RSA, Baviaanskloof), which was sold around 2009 in 8 cm pots for €4.50.

Aloe richardsiae ssp. richardsiae (Tanzania)A bulb-forming aloe, first described in 1964 by Gilbert W. Reynolds and name...
05/11/2025

Aloe richardsiae ssp. richardsiae (Tanzania)

A bulb-forming aloe, first described in 1964 by Gilbert W. Reynolds and named after Mrs H. Mary Richards, who discovered the species in southern Tanzania. It looks nothing like the typical aloes, and the bulb even smells like an onion when repotted. However, the flowers are unmistakably aloid.

Mary Richards noted that in the wild, this aloe grew "as thick as bluebells in an English wood" - forming continuous, dominant carpets. This growth strategy (forming dense colonies) makes the species particularly vulnerable to habitat fragmentation: the transformation of even a small area (for instance, into a "potato field") can lead to the destruction of an entire subpopulation, a threat compounded by the fact that the total range of the species is only about 40 km².

Haworthia arachnoidea var. nigricans ‘venteri’, 22 km DankbaarKarl von Poellnitz, known for his taxonomic philosophy of ...
04/11/2025

Haworthia arachnoidea var. nigricans ‘venteri’, 22 km Dankbaar

Karl von Poellnitz, known for his taxonomic philosophy of “splitting”, often described new species based on minor morphological deviations, without having sufficient data on population variability in situ. He described Haworthia venteri in 1939, based on plants resembling arachnoidea but with smooth leaves, which had been sent to him by Lieutenant Venter (after whom the species was named).

And here is where it gets interesting: G.G. Smith went to collect and study plants at the type locality of H. venteri (the Swellendam and Riversdale districts). He found that both smooth-leaved plants and those with prominent teeth along the margins and keel were growing there.

Lieutenant Venter - the collector who had supplied material to Poellnitz - personally confirmed to Smith that he had “noticed both types but did not collect the toothed ones”. Thus, venteri was described from a taxonomically “filtered”, non-representative sample. Poellnitz received only smooth forms and, being unaware of the full variability of the population (where smooth and toothed forms grow side by side), described them as a new, stable species. Smith wryly concluded that if another collector had sent the toothed form from the same population, “we would have had yet another species or variety added to the already overloaded list of Haworthia names.”

In simpler terms, Poellnitz did not describe anything new. He simply took one of the typical smooth phenotypes of var. nigricans - the very one growing next to the toothed forms near Swellendam - and mistakenly granted it species status. Bayer’s revision corrected this error by recognising that both smooth and spiny forms of var. nigricans belong to the same variable population. The name venteri is still used today, but in a new sense - as an informal descriptor referring to these distinctive, dark, and often smooth forms: H. arachnoidea var. nigricans ‘venteri’.

The photo, by the way, shows the “toothed” form of venteri: Haworthia arachnoidea var. nigricans ‘venteri’, 22 km Dankbaar.

A photo from the summer - Weingartia frey-juckeri HJ 441 (Rio Huancarani, Chuquisaca, Bolivia, 1100m)
03/11/2025

A photo from the summer - Weingartia frey-juckeri HJ 441 (Rio Huancarani, Chuquisaca, Bolivia, 1100m)

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