Haworthia pungens

Haworthia pungens
Small specimen in cultivation
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Xanthorrhoeaceae
Subfamily:	Asphodeloideae
Genus:	Haworthia
Species:	H. pungens
Binomial name
Haworthia pungens M.B.Bayer

Haworthia pungens is a species of flowering succulent plant from the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Description

A proliferous, caulescent succulent, with sharp smooth dark green leaves, that grow in five (and occasionally three) rows. It forms spreading clumps. In its appearance it most resembles Astroloba rubriflora or Haworthia viscosa (although the leaves of H.pungens are smooth and the plants are less upright in form).

The species name "pungens" means "sharp-pointed", and refers to the leaf-shape.

Taxonomy

Within the genus Haworthia, the species forms part of the subgenus Hexangulares.

Recent phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that subgenus Hexangulares is actually relatively unrelated to other Haworthias (being more closely related to Gasterias. It will therefore comprise a new, separate genus, Haworthiopsis, and this species will accordingly become "Haworthiopsis pungens".

Distribution

This vulnerable species occurs in two localities within a small area in Langkloof, near Joubertina, in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Here it grows on rocky conglomerate west-facing slopes in fynbos vegetation.