Lithops

I’ve a new project on the go this week. I have decided to grow some lithops. 

Lithops is a genus of prehistoric succulent plants originating in southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words ‘lithos’, meaning "stone," and ‘ops’, meaning "face," referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants. They only get to 1” in height and will live for 40 to 50 years, happily staying in the same pot for 10-15 years with very little watering so make a great slow growing novelty houseplant.

Their camouflage is really effective and over millions of years natural selection has allowed the plants to mimic their surrounding environment perfectly making them indistinguishable from a stone at first glance. This protects them from being eaten.  The leaves of Lithops are mostly buried below the surface of the soil, with a partially or completely translucent top surface known as a leaf window which allows light to enter the interior of the leaves for photosynthesis.

Individual Lithops plants consist of just one or more pairs of bulbous leaves opposite to each other and hardly any stem. The opening between the leaves contains the meristem and produces flowers and new leaves. 

The plants were first recorded in 1811by botanist John Burchell who accidentally found a specimen when picking up stones from the ground and called it a "curiously shaped pebble”. In the 1950s, Desmond and Naureen Cole began to study Lithops. They eventually visited nearly all habitat populations and collected samples from approximately 400, identifying them with the Cole numbers which have been used ever since and distributing Cole numbered seed around the world.

New species continue to be discovered, sometimes in remote regions of Namibia and South Africa, and sometimes in well-populated areas where they simply had been overlooked – or trodden on for generations. 

Lithops Care

I have edged my bets as usual and gone for 100 mixed seeds and 12 two year old plants already formed and ready for putting in a pot. I have done a lot of research about the plants and care methods differ wildly depending on location. I’ve decided to use the pre grown ones as testers to find out for myself how to care for the seedlings which have already started to germinate.

Caring for lithops seems to differ from one country to the next and it all depends on light, soil and stone medium and watering cycle. The plants themselves appear to grow the same regardless of their location in the world. No watering is necessary when the plants shed their old leaves as the moisture from these goes to feed the plant as it dehydrates. Normal treatment in mild temperate climates is to keep them completely dry during winter. In hotter climates Lithops will have summer dormancy when they should be kept mostly dry, but I don’t think we need bother about that. If I do underwater the plants they will let me know as they become wrinkly, sometimes even disappearing totally underground.

Lithops in habitat almost never have more than one leaf pair per head, presumably as an adaptation to the arid environment. Yellow or white flowers emerge from between the leaves, usually in autumn. The flowers are often sweetly scented. 

Propagation

Lithops are usually grown from seed. I have planted mine in two small pots and they will take between one and two years growing undercover on a windowsill to be large enough to pot on, as I mentioned they have germinated but are about as small as a pin head. As I am a bit impatient the two year old pre grown specimens have been to put some into my new stoneware pots (I did make them for bonsai but they were too small) I’ve done a bit of ‘lithops landscaping’ too by adding some small granite stones to make it more of a feature.

 

Potting Mix

I have made a potting mix of mainly volcanic pumice grit, granite grit and a touch of soil for both the seeds and the mature plants. The only difference is a sprinkling of sand over the tiny seeds before covering with plastic to keep the moisture in. 

Lithops are non-toxic to humans and pets; in fact they can be a thirst quencher in the desert so are great for children to get into the pleasures of growing houseplants.

I’m sure growing and caring for lithops will be a big learning curve for me and as usual there might be a few casualties along the way.














UPDATE:
I planted the lithops quite deeply to start with. Over the last couple of weeks they seem to be finding their own levels and popping up a bit.

6 Week old seedlings: