CHOICE MIX PEBBLE PLANT Lithops
We have hand selected this mix of Lithops seeds, to include the most interesting-patterned, and vibrant-colored Lithops!
Thick gray club shaped leaves with rusty-orange mottled tips! Flower are white.
Individual Lithops plants consist of one or more pairs of bulbous, almost fused leaves opposite to each other and hardly any stem. The slit between the leaves contains the meristem and produces flowers and new leaves. 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.
In spring the old leaf pair parts to reveal the new leaves and the old leaves will then dry up. Lithops leaves may shrink and disappear below ground level during drought. 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 the fissure between the leaves after the new leaf pair has fully matured, one per leaf pair.
The most startling adaptation of Lithops is the colouring of the leaves. The leaves are fenestrated, and the epidermal windows are patterned in various s of cream, grey, and brown, with darker windowed areas, dots, and red lines, according to species and local conditions. The markings function as remarkable camouflage for the plant in its typical stone-like environment. As is typical of a window plant, the green tissue lines the inside of the leaves and is covered with translucent tissue beneath the epidermal windows.
Rainfall in Lithops habitats ranges from approximately 700 mm/year to near zero. Rainfall patterns range from exclusively summer rain to exclusively winter rain, with a few species relying almost entirely on dew formation for moisture. Temperatures are usually hot in summer and cool to cold in winter.
Lithops are popular house plants and many specialist succulent growers maintain collections. They are relatively easy to grow if given sufficient sun and a suitable well-drained soil.
Normal treatment in mild temperate climates is to keep them completely dry during winter, watering only when the old leaves have dried up and been replaced by a new leaf pair. Watering continues through autumn when the plants flower and then stopped for winter. The best results are obtained with additional heat such as a greenhouse. In hotter climates Lithops will have a summer dormancy when they should be kept mostly dry, and they may require some water in winter. In tropical climates, Lithops can be grown primarily in winter with a long summer dormancy. In all conditions, Lithops will be most active and need most water during autumn and each species will flower at approximately the same time.
Lithops thrive best in a coarse, well-drained substrate. Any soil that retains too much water will cause the plants to burst their skins as they over-expand.
In the United Kingdom the following species have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:
Lithops karasmontana
Lithops olivacea
Lithops pseudotruncatella
Lithops salicola
Lithops schwantesii
Most propagation is by seed. Lithops can readily be pollinated by hand if two separate clones of a species flower at the same time, and seed will be ripe about 9 months later. Seed is easy to germinate.
Seeds per pack: 10
Germination: Obtain a pot with holes in the bottom, and a sterile seed-start mix. Add 50% coarse sand to the mix. Wet the medium. Sprinkle the seeds on the surface of the soil. With a spray bottle, mist the seeds so that they settle in. Mist them daily. Occasionally add water from a bottom tray so that the water can wick upwards and not disturb the seeds. Keep at room temperature.
