Astroloba pentagona

A small column-forming succulent from the Little Karoo, with stiff pointed leaves stacked in five ranks up each stem. It takes hot dry summers and cold, near-frosty winter nights, and grows mostly in the cooler months with light, irregular rain. Grow it like a tough Haworthia: bright light, gritty mineral soil and careful summer watering.

At home, aim for

Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry

Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry

Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry

Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry

Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Grows on stony shale and quartz slopes in Karoo scrub, often in the lee of small shrubs or rocks that give it some midday shelter. This is inferred from the genus and the recorded sites around Ladismith and Calitzdorp.

Records cluster around 600–1100 m in the western Little Karoo; few records carry an elevation.

South Africa (Western Cape, Little Karoo)

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates

✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it

✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light

✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it

✓ Substrate and airflow

✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Astroloba pentagona? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

Start free Sign in

More Astroloba

Astroloba corrugata Astroloba herrei Astroloba rubriflora Astroloba bullulata Astroloba congesta Astroloba foliolosa Astroloba spiralis Astroloba robusta Astroloba spirella Astroloba tenax Astroloba cremnophila

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC0 licence, unmodified.