All you wanted to know about Haworthias, Gasterias and Astrolobas: Haworthia mirabilis

H. mirabilis 'mundula', Mierkraal, S. Bredasdorp

Haworthia mirabilis Haw.

mirabilis: wonderful.

Haworthia mirabilis is stemless, slowly proliferous species. It has retused leaves with translucent face and marginal spines. It also turn reddish in the sun. Bayer in his Haworthia Revisited describe several varieties under H. mirabilis - badia, beukmannii, calcarea, consanguinea, paradoxa, sublineata and triebneriana. Later he added depauperata and diversicolor. I will discuss all this plants as separed species.

Distribution map

H. mirabilis is known from Bredasdorp - Napier area. Smith originally described this species as mundula, but Bayer add it under mirabilis. Photo from original descritpion suggest more relationship to beukmannii or triebneriana type of the plant, not mundula.

Mirabilis is related to magnifica in the East and as Bayer recently wrote, he put all above mentioned variets under huge mirabilis complex including maraisiii and magnifica as well. At the moment here on this web I follow his concept from Haworthia Revisited and keep them separated.But there are many interesting and strenge to identify population in the area from Bredasdorp in the West, to Potberg in the South and Heidelberg in the East. They can belong to mirabilis / maraisii / magnifica. You can simply call these plants from this area "mirabilis" or you can try to find new names...

H. mirabilis from Mierkraal is well widespread in cultivation. It is an easy species and when properly grown it is very decorative. Propagation is by offsetts.