A Talk on Haworthia: A Primer on the Windows of the "Manao" Type

Today let's talk about a very distinctive trait found in the "Manao" type - the "window on the skin." (Thanks to Sven for the material.)

The first time I heard this term was many years ago, from Tie Dan of Suzhou. Back then I only had a shallow understanding of plants, and my research was not thorough. In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed. As I have seen more and more varieties, my understanding of the traits has grown deeper - bristly hairs, frosted textures, thick white veins, and so on. The traits are endlessly varied, yet the Manao with windows on the skin always manages to catch my attention quickly.

(Besides the Manao type, Haworthia cooperi, the purple series, and the/Haworthia truncata and /Haworthia truncata f. maughanii can all actually be considered a kind of window on the skin, but this article will not discuss them for now.)

Enough idle talk. First, let's explain it from the literal meaning.

We can break down "window on the skin" as: skin (noun n) - on (verb v) - window (noun n).

What is "skin"? The skin is the green surface layer of the plant. Skin color ranges from light to dark, and it also determines the overall body color of the plant. What we often call black skin or purple skin refers to the color of the skin.

Then what is the "window"? I believe it needs no explanation - it is the translucent tip unique to Haworthia, like a skylight, that everyone knows.

When the green skin climbs onto the translucent window, that is the so-called window on the skin.

As we know, the window surface of the Manao type has many expressions, and the vein patterns are especially attractive. Among them, Kompoto, Splendid, and Blue Crab are all excellent parents for window on the skin, and through hybridization they can give us many outstanding individuals with windows on the skin.

Let's look at it step by step. For example, the thick-white-veined Komk has a large group of fans,

Take the familiar Moon Shadow as an example. If you look carefully at the beginning of the thick white veins, there is actually a small extension of green skin, but it quickly transitions into white veins.

What exactly determines the transition between green skin and white veins is unknown, but in the process of horticultural seedling-growing, intentionally or unintentionally, we will obtain some individuals where green skin makes up a larger proportion of the window surface and white veins are fewer, or even individuals that are purely green skin.

Like this Splendid line, the trait of the skin climbing onto the window is very obvious. The green skin does not transition into white veins, but instead extends straight toward the window surface.

This is still only the skin extending along the direction of a single vein.

As the veins become more and more complex, the green skin also becomes more and more complex,

becoming dense and irregular, and at the same time more and more eye-catching. This is also why I personally have always liked windows on the skin.