page_title: Astroloba herrei
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Astroloba herrei / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Astroloba herrei - flowers
context_page_description: Astroloba herrei is a small succulent plant of the genus Astroloba, restricted to the area around the Swartberg mountains, South Africa.
  It is listed as a Vulnerable species on the Red List of the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
context_section_description: Astroloba herrei is a compact Astroloba species, with stems growing up to 20 cm high, that are densely covered in pointed succulent leaves. 
  Flowers appear from June to November.
  With its sharp, grey-green, keeled leaves, and its puffed up, inflated flowers, the species is easily mistaken for the closely related Astroloba spiralis species. However it is genetically distinct and can always be distinguished by its flowers. Both spiralis and herrei have puffed up, inflated flowers, but those of herrei are smooth (unlike spiralis, which has a wrinkled, transversely rugose, perianth).
  Other less reliable ways of identifying herrei are the fine, dark, longitudinal lines (striations) which are sometimes visible below the surface of the leaves, and the slight blueish colour which herrei attains in sheltered or shaded environments. Leaves often feature narrowly acuminate leaf tips that spread outwards more strongly than in spiralis. However these are not certain ways of identifying it; the only sure way of distinguishing this species with certainty is by its flowers.
  A variety of this plant was formerly recognised as a separate species, Astroloba dodsoniana (Uitewaal). The dark longitudinal stripes of this variety of herrei are faint or even invisible, and the leaves are slightly paler. This is just a growth form and it can appear at random among normal herrei plants in all herrei populations.
caption: Flowers are small, white, inflated and round.
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