Looks like a form of H attenuata (or possibly a H. minima form). I'll leave it to others to give you good care info. Mine live by the seat of their pants on the SOS program! =)

Rose,
I agree, it does look like a form of H. attenuata (the only pictures I could find of H. minima appeared to have wider leaves than mine).

Is it possible that this is Haworthia attenuata var. radula? I typed in H. attenuata in Dave's Garden and browsed through the varieties, that one looks pretty close. I do understand that pictures on there can be misleading, as some plants can be misidentified/mislabeled. Again, I spose it's possible it's just H. attenuata var. attenuata. Definitely having a hard time telling the difference (as I can't find much information about var. radula online).

Thanks again, I'll wait for others to reply with regards to its care. I'm sure that despite your "SOS Program," your Haws are still beautiful (While I'm more of a reader than a "poster" on this forum, I have seen enough of your photos to know you have beautiful plants).

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Tue, Dec 3, 13 at 15:59

That looks just like one I got recently, marked misc succulent from Costa Farms. I couldn't find any Haworthia on their site, but did find Aloe aristata that's a dead ringer for my plant - and yours. What would one look for to distinguish?

Purple,
Wow, that was like placing a mirror next to my plant, you're right, we have twins! I looked up Aloe aristata, but I'm not convinced that's what we have. I'm convinced we have Haws... just not quite sure which one. While the Aloe looks similiar due to spotting on its leaves, the picture I found on Costa Farm doesn't look the same to me (nor do the other pictures I found on Google). I believe Aloe aristata has wider leaves (mine are pretty narrow).

Odd thing is... Mine is from Costa Farms too. I failed to look at the tag that came with it, but it doesn't provide a name. I know I've bought Costa Farm plants before that I couldn't find on their website.

Planto

Different flowering, maybe one of the two may have been mislabled.

Purple,
This is a link to R K nursery, I found a side view of the Aloe you mentioned, and it looks different IMO to our plants. IMO, this looks like the plant in the picture on Costa Farms's website as well.

Planto

Here is a link that might be useful:

Aloe aristata just takes a little time to differentiate between some Haworthia. I remember thinking, when I bought an A. aristata long ago, that it was a Haw. I quickly learned. Don't look to Wikipedia page -- someone has positively screwed up there; in no way is that A. aristata. Most Google images will be in the ballpark if you Google Aloe aristata, but that Wikipedia page image is a Haw through and through.

I'd say what you guys have is a H. attenuata form.

Teatree,
Haha, I stumbled across that image earlier. Even my Husband who's not a plant person said, "That's what you have, that's not an Aloe" (maybe after all this plant talking, he's learned some things about plants, hehe). I will just stick H. attenuata with it and call it a day.

Thanks Rose and Teatree for the ID.

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 0:15

A quick Google search suggested to me that Wikipedia entry may be one biiiiig, misleading issue. :)

Usually safe to say Rosemarie will get it right, and that she did.

Teatree,
Now I'm afraid to read the Wikipedia "article," haha.

Planto

I'm just throwing the info out there, we all know I don't know the names of these kinds of plants well. Not cheerleading for either ID, just sharing what I'd encountered, and to see if folks thought these 2 plants looked as identical as what I see.

Coming in after Rosemarie who didn't mention Aloe at all, I figured the suggestion was likely wrong, but still don't know how the more experienced eyes see a difference. Hearing the other suggestion refuted makes the original ID more strong, so that's cool. I also searched the Haw names she mentioned. Aside from blooms, is there any other way to differentiate these tiny guys? What about tearing open a leaf to check sap color, texture, odor? Baking in the sun (assuming it would start to burn if a Haw?) Is the connection between rosettes the same? Pattern of dots?

In the case of Haworthia vs. Aloe, I think it might be pretty important to know which it is, for plants that go outside for summer. AFAIK, (and have been doing,) Haws need some direct sun but baking mid-day is probably too much, and don't much appreciate drying completely. I've had about 6 different ones for the past year and they look great, I think. Aloe, OTOH, would like to be in the sun non-stop, and must not be kept as moist?

Planto, CF is confusing to me too, but I don't think I've gotten any plants from them that weren't at least mentioned by genus, even if the genus blurb doesn't help with species or cultivar name. Plants not sold individually may only appear in a collection and not in the library, so it's necessary to check both on there, though you probably already discovered that. And, of course, it's possible they just don't know and/or are mistaken. As we all know, you don't have to know it to grow it. They're not taxonomists. But it's more fun if you can tell people what it is, at least the genus.

Self-correction: They do mention Haworthia fasciata on CF site but these are clearly not that, if those always have the whiteness in the form of almost-perfect stripes.

purple, my experience with CF is different.

I bought a number of CF plants this year (glued-rocks mixed pots and two jades), and I've never seen an identifying tag for any of them (I made a list which includes growers -- if known -- and whether my ID was from a grower tag). For instance, some Costa Farms plants still in their original pots (replanting this week, I promise!) were labelled:

"Succulent garden" (4 cacti, a straw flower, and glued rocks)

"Cacti & Succulents" (4 succulents, no cacti, and glued rocks)

"Succulent" on the plastic tag and "Succulent asst SH" on the pot (a C. ovata 'Legolas')

The only tags which gave the actual species were from Altman or Carefree Succulents. And an Aloe vera from HD had a tag but no grower name.

Purple,
I can understand wanting to "put a name with a face" so to speak.
I have seen an Aloe aristata at a local Lowes and the growth habit of the rosette is a bit different than that of our plants and the leaves were about as wide as my thumb (about how wide are the leaves on your plant? The leaves on mine are a little thicker than my pinkie finger).

Something my Husband mentioned when I was showing him pictures I found online for Aloe aristata, is that their leaves appear to have "teeth" on the edges, something I think is indicative of Aloes.

The flowers would appear different being a Haw or an Aloe (to answer your question about flowering). I gave my my Mother my last Haw (another H. attenuata, but it had more banding than spots) and it bloomed twice. This isn't a picture of her's in bloom (I took the picture from someone's Flickr page), but this is what a Haw looks like in bloom. If you look up Aloe flowers, they're more tubular and orange or yellow generally.

Planto

I see I have a lot of reading to catch up on! My, you girls have been busy!

I don't have a lot of time, so excuse me if my post seems truncated. I'm just jumping in & out of forum while crossing things off my list!

No, not Haworthia attenuata var. radula, which has largely unmarked leaves (and is rarely grown).

Planto, Just a note, hee hee, you have to know I only show my plants when they look GOOD~that's why you have been fooled! :P Or, if I am giving an example of some plight/insect/disease, I will show their ugliness. Or you see plants while they looked fabulous, but have succumbed & did NOT graduate from the SOS program (=I killed them). :(

Amazing that you two (Beth & Tiffany) have twinner plants! The shape of them both (leaves turned up) reminds me of an Aloe, whose leaves are thick & turn like that. That's where the similarity ends, though, as it is a blue-ish plant. Aloe krapohliana var. dumoulinii (which I used to own) See at Huntington link below.
IF...your plants were a cross between an Aloe & a Haworthia, this is the one I'd think played a part. =) Okay, digressing aside...

There are several varieties of Haworthia attenuata. Plants are variable. Taking another look...and checking my Haworthia book again, I'm leaning more toward Haworthia minima. The leaves of the plant in the book do not curve up like on both of your plants, but chunkiness & dots fit.

There are several pix of H. minima (& varieties of) on this page, you can compare to yours:
https://plus.google.com/photos/114509648349300828485/albums/5044151925117149121?banner=pwa

Here are a couple pix of my Aloe aristata. Your plant is not that. You will note the leaf tip filaments, a distinguishing characteristic of Aloe aristata. As noted many times, flowers would definitely help pin down between the genus. Unfortunately, it probably won't be much help between species.

Jumping to Tiffany's queries, I'll say it depends on which plants, but some Aloe & some Haworthia burn in full sun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aloe krahpoliana v. dumoulinii

Wouldn't aloe have more distinct teeth on the sides ? ( which could need time to develope on the one in pic from Purple. ) Also same Aloe may also develop fine hair on the tops.

Every " rule" does have it's exeptions as well.
Of the two (in different posted pics) both are very often confused as being the the other when not in flower As mentioned in the link below

Here is a link that might be useful: A. aristata

Rosemarie,
Thanks for the information on Haworthia attenuata var. radula. I figured it was a shot in the dark, but worth a shot.

Haha, I see now, you've been fooling me with your plant pictures. :P

It is funny that you mention the leaf curl, it didn't occur to me that my last Haw (a H. attenuata) didn't have that curl present. Hmm... now my brain juices are going again.

Perhaps Purple mentioned something that will be the best deciding factor in its identification: flowering. With flowers, I'm sure that could narrow the playing field down pretty fast. Well... hopefully. I'm not sure if it's a hybrid of sorts, what flowers would be present (a hybrid of an Aloe/Haworthia).

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 14:56

The only xAloworthia I'm aware of is 'Black Gem'...which I'm not even sure its name has been determined for certain. :P And, as far as that goes, no one has seen it bloom, or ~I have not found evidence of it.

Now, if you're talking xGasteraloe, I can provide pix as to what the blooms would look like.

Have to run for groceries. Back if I have any further info! :)

Rosemarie,
With your knowledge, I will just go back to labeling it as a Haworthia in that case. Still a bit undecided as to its species. It kind of looks like H. minima to me, but I don't feel 100% comfortable giving it that ID. I found some pictures online of H. minima, but I can't seem to find a picture that looks exactly like my plant. Perhaps it is a form of H. minima or maybe still a form of H. attenuata. I think that whatever Purple and I have found, it's unique (maybe it's just unique to me, haha).

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 17:40

I think labeling it as you plan makes good sense. I am curious to see how both your plants fare & bloom, if it ever does.

Can't recall who mentioned it (& no time to check), but you can find both Aloe & Haworthia with teeth on the leaf edges, as well as hairy features ~so not something you can count on for identification purposes. There needs to be a combination of different characteristics (without blooms, that is) to make an ID.

I agree, you both have an unusual looking plant. =)

Rosemarie,
Oops. Was trying to better word myself when you replied. I have alot to learn. I think houseplants are more my speciality. Maybe that's because there doesn't seem to be so much variability with houseplants (not a completely true statement, but for the most part).

Planto

Planto's post, but thanks from me also for the inputs regarding my questions.

Whatever it is, can't be too terribly unusual, mass-produced & sold at mass merchants. Probably just so much smaller than what folks are used to seeing.

I'm leaning toward Haw too, with the whole of this discussion and something else I noticed today. There's a little patch of moss in the pot with my plant. Wouldn't an Aloe almost surely be dead by now in conditions possible for moss to grow? Haw, OTOH, would not (at least so immediately) mind the consistency and level of necessary moisture for that. Thinking it was an aloe, I let it get desert dry when I brought it home. Will start treating it more like a Haw & bet it doesn't rot.

Missing, I haven't bought any mixed planters or anything with glued rocks so no clue on investigating those. Those that say "succulent" or "cactus and succulent" are in the collections section, separate button for cacti vs. succulents. I don't know if they are the same selection of plants used in the mixed planters or not. I've not seen anything about mixed planters on their site. More confusing, there are other collections in the "seasonal favorites" section that lists some dupes from the "collections." Not the greatest website, but I'm just glad they're sending some different plants to stores. In addition to C/S, I've gotten some cool landscape plants.

Tiffany, I have several pots of my sux that have moss in them. Not saying they should! Just screams out at me that I need to change the soil from what it came in & that, it might be sitting in a saucer of water longer than it was supposed to be. If you go middle of the road on water (water when somewhat dry), you ought to be fine!

Another thought, the leaves might be fat from retaining water. They could skinny up if you put them on a diet (less water). LOL

I would consider them Haworthia, with an outside chance of having been crossed with an Aloe.

This post was edited by rosemariero on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 19:16

Purple,
Sure they're mass produced, but I've only seen two in town here... of all the plant sources we have here. Also, I recently purchased a Costa Farms Sansevieria that it doesn't appear anyone on the Sans forum can identify (you can find my post on the Sans forum). So, I still think they're not something you see everyday, and unique with that regard.

Odd thing about your mix, mine does't look like yours. Mine is very fine and has what looks to be sand in it.

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 19:17

TY, Rosemarie! I have a nice place for that cute little patch of moss, NOT in a pot.

Planto, I think it's coirpeat (not at all related to peat moss.) I'll know for sure when I take it out. If I can ever find a source to buy some, I definitely will! Nothing but great experiences with plants bought in that & not repotted right away. (A Sans, a Kalanchoe & something else that won't come to mind at the moment.) I'm probably not in a position to gauge if it's unusual or not. I've lost touch with such things since moving where there are hardly any stores, and never looked at C/S plants when I lived in OH, so should probably not have said that.

Purple,
It's okay, I didn't take offense to your comment. I really shouldn't say myself that they're unusual or not.

Out of all the years I've been plant shopping (been enjoying plants for almost six years... I'm a late bloomer), I've only seen two others (Although, I can't say with 100% certainty that one of the two other Haws I've seen was the same that we currently have; all I remember is that it was a Haw with spots).

So by the standards of where I live with the number of plant places to shop at and the years I've been shopping, they seem pretty unusual... but I wouldn't bank on my statement either (I know I don't know everything, haha).

Who knows, maybe there's another person who will come on here and be like Geez guys, I see those darn Haws every time I go plant shopping. *shrugs*

Interesting enough, as much as I look at plants around here (people recognize me... is that sad?), I've only seen maybe four or five other Haws in the last five years. They don't seem to be a common plant around here in general. Kinda odd considering.

You're fine Purple. *hugs*

Editing my post to respond to your comment about the soil in your pot. Sounds like something they should be mass producing if you've had such great results! Almost every plant I've purchased seems to come in that pure peat moss mix that stays damp forever. I can't really tell what the consistency of the soil mine is in, it's real fine and sandy looking. Doesn't seem too horrible, but I am planning on putting it in a mix of 50% perlite and 50% C&S soil soon. I planted my new Sans and ZZ Plant in it recently and my goodness it dries out much faster than when I was using just regular C&S soil. I don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago, might not have lost my other Sans and ZZ Plant.

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Thu, Dec 5, 13 at 10:24

Good stuff, friend, TY!

"Who knows, maybe there's another person who will come on here and be like Geez guys, I see those darn Haws every time I go plant shopping. *shrugs*"
That made me LOL for real!

So you don't know the old "house plant books" with the drawings instead of pics, then B&W pics, and strange advice for wildly different care for each kind of plant? That's actually good, a hard foundation from which to make the leap from a bunch of unnecessary hooey to what actually works. And my books never had any C/S in them, except maybe jade or Sans.

Yeah, as long as you can/want to water often, drying really fast is good, or at least less dangerous. I'm torn lately. I love to water plants, but not while they're inside for winter. My few, brief experiences with the coirpeat stuff (which I'm still not clear what the right name is, or which names are brand names,) make me want to work with it more. Takes a long time to degrade (longer than most organic materials used in pots,) seems impossible to 'be soggy,' doesn't compact, crumbled right off of roots, & I love how the few plants have done in it. A few of the commercial grower sites I encountered searching for info about it said they re-use it for seasonal crops, up to 4 times.

I guess the crumbled off of roots part would be distressing to those who check roots between repots. If you pull it out, you're repotting whether you knew that at first or not. If I discover that ants don't care to take up residence in this stuff, I'll convert every pot I have.

Purple,
Sure thing! Haha, I'm glad I gave you a good laugh!

Nope, I'm a bit too young and a bit too "young" into caring for plants to have experienced drawings of plants and off the wall care. That sounds kinda scary, lol.

Yeah, I'm hoping this time around I won't overwater and kill them both again. I'm one of those people who has too much time on their hands so I baby my plants.

I wish they'd mass produce that mix then with the experiences you've had with it. If you can re-use it up to 4 times, that would be the equivalent to not repotting for up to four years; that'd be pretty nice! No compacting like you said, and it sounds very aerated, which is one of the best things in a potting soil to find.

I haven't pulled mine out of it's plastic pot yet, on that note... I'll wait until I'm ready to repot, haha!

Maybe it's not mass produced due to cost? I'm not quite sure. Seems like if "it doesn't work," that's what some people do... for cost or for the hell of it, I'm not sure.

Planto

I bought the same unidentified plant from Lowes. I'm reasonably sure it's Haworthia glabrata var. concolor.