Description
Lithops julii cv. Hot Lips is an odd selected form derived from Lithops julii C183|MR|13609]]. First published by Steven Hammer of the USA, in “New Cultivars in Lithops, Piante Grasse Speciale 1995 is a pallid cultivar with enhanced “lip-smears”, which are small bright-red patches along both margins of the fissure. It was bred to match a wild plant admired by Steven Hammer near Rambawd. A few of its seeds gave rise to the cultivar, via several trials of elimination and exaggeration. The “lip-smears” are quite variable, sometime reduced to a very thin line along the margins of the fissure, sometime more or less extended and branched on the leaf-faces.
Origin and Habitat
Lithops julii cv. Hot Lips is a cultivated selected strain derived from Lithops julii C183 25 km SE of Warmbad, Namibia.
Cultivation and Propagation
Easy to grow it tolerates a degree more excess water than some particular hydrophobic species, even so it must have a very open mineral, fast draining mix with little compost and a high degree of grit, coarse sand, small lava gravel or pebbles. Give them the maximum amount of light you are able to give them, but care should be taken about exposing them to the full blast of the sun rays in summer. Such tiny plants can easily get scorched or broiled and their appearance spoiled (this may not matter in the wild, where the Lithops have probably shrunk into the ground and becomes covered with sands).
Basic cultivation routine: Stop watering after flowering. Start watering after the old leaves completely dry. (Usually late March or Early April) Water freely during the growing season, soak the compost fully but allow it to dry out between waterings, no water when cold. Some growers fertilize frequently, some hardly ever. Keep them dry during the winter. Nearly all problems occur as a result of overwatering and poor ventilation especially when weather conditions are dull and cool or very humid. If too much water is supplied the plants will grow out of character, bloat, split and rot. Keep them in small pots as solitary clumps or as colonies in large, shallow terracotta seed pans.
Bibliography
Major refences and further lectures
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Steven A. Hammer “Lithops: Treasures of the Veld ; Observations on the Genus Lithops N.E.Br” British Cactus and Succulent Society, 1999
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Steven Hammer of the USA, in “New Cultivars in Lithops”, Piante Grasse Speciale 1995
