On the cover. Haworthia truncata is one of the most beautiful and popular species in the genus, unique in its distichous, or fan-like, leaf arrangement. Plants grown from wild seed retain the species' somber green coloration; even these "normal" plants are delightful and surprisingly easy to grow. Decades of selective breeding have brought out a range of desirable traits, as displayed in this specimen photographed by Irwin Lightstone. Brighter greens, clearer windows, Zeus-bolted lines and shocking variegations can now commonly be found in collections. In habitat, only the tops of the windowed leaves are to be seen at the soil surface, but in cultivation, and especially among the more "pumped-up" cultivars, the leaves are more often fanned out above the soil, to be enjoyed in all their splendor. When it is time to repot, the fingerlike succulent roots are marvelous to behold, and they make a useful propagation stock as well.
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