Beginner's Guide to Succulents: Explaining the Various Terms of the Haworthia Genus

Recently there's been another seed-grown spat: A sold a plant, tentatively called a black-fleshed seed-grown, to B. B happily received it, but after showing it to others who know about these things, discovered that this thing was not purely black-fleshed at all, but rather a hybrid cross. Feeling unhappy about it, B demanded the seller refund 300 yuan, and the seller refused. (Thanks to Tianwai Feifeixian for the material)

This humble fairy has discussed concepts like seed-grown with everyone, and compiled them as follows. Corrections and additions are welcome~ I hope these can serve as clear concepts in the future.

There is only one kind of seed-grown: grown from seed that was sown. When something is described as seed-grown from a certain plant, it means this variety was grown from seed produced with that plant as the mother.

For example, Sharaku seed-grown means the mother was Sharaku. Of course, this Sharaku used as the mother must have come from various vegetative propagations of Sharaku. Whether tissue culture, leaf cutting, or offset.

Going further, seed-grown Sharaku: there is only one plant, the one that was named. If someone else hybridized in the same way and obtained one, a surname can be added in front. For example, Yamamoto O.

For another example, Shirotae, seed-grown semi-wild Shirotae, there is one and only one plant.

Many things called Shirotae seed-grown are not Shirotae. Shirotae seed-grown is the first generation with Shirotae as the mother. Many traders exploit this loophole, because many people mistakenly think that something called seed-grown from a named cultivar is a seed-grown named cultivar.

Haworthia is a matrilineal society. The offspring of a named cultivar used as the mother are called a line.

For example, the Sharaku line: the offspring with Sharaku as the mother, as well as the offspring of those offspring used as mothers.

The difference from the seed-grown mentioned above is the number of generations.

Offsets count as vegetative propagation, and an offset of a seed-grown plant does not count as seed-grown. An offset's traits express very early, and it is relatively robust. After being taken and planted, it will also go through a process of trait decline and strengthening.

The mother is A, written in front, by international convention.

Indicates propagation obtained through leaf cutting.

If it says seed-grown leaf cutting, it means its mother is seed-grown. Of course this kind is also extremely rare, especially for named cultivars.

Generally, when seed-grown is not emphasized, the mother is a leaf cutting from various vegetatively propagated plants. For example, a leaf cutting of a leaf-cutting plant, a leaf cutting of a tissue-cultured plant, a leaf cutting of an offset, all are simply called leaf cuttings.

Leaf-cutting plants are usually relatively robust too (except those obtained with hormones).

Like offset leaf cuttings, they all belong to vegetative propagation. They can fully carry the mother's characteristics, though there is also the possibility of variation. For example, R2 tissue culture produced Super Green Island. Red-striped Haworthia tissue culture produced Watermelon, OB tissue culture produced Kongming Lantern.

Variation is always present; it occurs in seed-grown, and it also occurs in vegetative propagation. Variation of course goes in both good and bad directions. Only through variation do named cultivar variegates or new varieties like the tissue-culture-produced ones mentioned above appear. Named cultivar variegates are variations produced during the vegetative propagation of named cultivars. Variation shows in many aspects: pattern, body shape, variegation, and so on.

For example, Shenyang tissue culture of Shirotae variation (not yet named), with green stripes; R2 tissue culture produced Super Green Island, with a large body and coarser, larger patterns; Red-striped Haworthia tissue culture produced Watermelon, showing a back window.

A variegated plant may keep the mother's pattern, or it may change somewhat. You can only tell once it has grown up~

Artificial intervention methods promote variation. Common methods use radiation or added mutagens such as colchicine. There's no need to be too averse to these methods, because they have long been used in agriculture. The cost is also very high. For example, using radiation on seeds to induce variegation will kill off a large portion.

A famous example is Iwao's embryo-like body variegation induction technique (don't ask me about the fine details, I don't understand it either), which can both preserve the named variety's traits and produce variegation.

It just doesn't grow. Both external environment and internal factors can cause stunted seedlings. For example, improper care of seed-sown seedlings may trigger stunting; leaf cuttings and tissue cultures obtained with excessive hormones may trigger stunting.

Answering three questions

1. Stunted seedlings, how can you tell? Many seedlings are bought in, and sellers all say they were dehydrated in transit or shipped after being dehydrated for a while, or that they haven't recovered from planting yet. So is there any way to tell at the first moment whether it's a stunted seedling?

2. Setting aside hormone issues, is tissue culture the most likely to produce stunted seedlings?

3. How do you distinguish good tissue-cultured plants from bad ones?

1. With some experience you can judge stunted seedlings: ones that visibly grow slowly, or hardly grow at all. You can't tell at the first moment; you must grow them for a while. As said before, there are external and internal causes. Stunting caused by external factors can generally be avoided by experienced growers. So if an experienced grower complains that it's a stunted seedling, nine times out of ten it's a problem with the seedling itself.

2. Tissue-cultured plants, in general, at the small seedling stage, are weaker than leaf cuttings and offsets. However, those skilled at it can handle it quite well, for example a certain big grower's tissue culture, anyone who has grown them knows.

3. I look at the producer, or I try growing them myself. Generally, for medium-sized plants it doesn't matter whether they're tissue-cultured; once you take them home and grow them, they're all the same.