Publication: Succulenta (Netherlands) 1961 (7) 76 [Jyly 1961]
Description
Lithops triebneri is one of the innumerable local form of the very variable Lithops schwantesii. It distinguishes for the presence of a top yellowish-brown or yellowish-brown with a distinct greenish tinge, with a varying number of isolated blood-red dots in the gentle depressions or a few dots connected by short blood-red lines, the dots remaining the dominant feature of the line. It has the same variable characteristics of the species and cultivated plants can be reliably distinguished from Lithops schwantesii only when seeds or details of wild source are available.
Habit: It is a tiny caespitose succulent that grows almost completely buried in the soil with only the upper truncated portion of leaves visible. Bodies usually forming small groups with 1-3 heads (or more), up to 4 cm high. As with many other species, several varieties and local forms have been described based on the variation of the colour of the tops of the leaves.
Bodies (paired leaves): Truncate in profile, 20-40 mm long, 15-30 mm broad, top of lobe flat or slightly convex; colour of sides light grey; top yellowish-brown or yellowish-brown with a distinct greenish tinge, smooth or slightly rugulose with a varying number of isolated blood-red dots in the gentle depressions or a few dots connected by short blood-red lines, the dots remaining the dominant feature of the line; window opaque with a large number of round, dark-green miniature windows with a suffused bluish tinge; outer and inner margins a broad band more prominently buff-coloured than the rest of the top. Old leaves persist for one year usually, often for two years.
Flower: Yellow, often with longish pedicels, 20-36 mm in diameter.
Blooming season: Autumn.
Fruit: 5(-6) chambered, profile boat-shaped, top more or less flat, faces elliptic to broadly elliptic.
Origin and Habitat
Tirasberge, Namibia
Cultivation and Propagation
Need an open mineral, fast draining mix and the maximum amount of light you are able to give them. The basic cultivation routine is: 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. 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.
Remarks: In the winter season the plant doesn’t need watering, but they will still be growing, the new bodies will be increasing in size as the old outer leaves begin to shrivel. In fact the plant in this time extracts water and nutrient stored in the outer succulent leaves, allowing them to dehydrate relocating the water to the rest of the plant and to the new leaves that form during this period until the old leaves are reduced to nothing more than “thin papery shells”.
Notes
Lithops are partly subterranean, with only the clear ‘window’ in each leaf tip exposed above soil. A type of optical system exists whereby a layer of apical tissue rich in calcium oxalate crystals acts as a filter to intense sunlight before it reaches the thin chlorophyllous layer below. They are also called mimicry plants as they show a striking similarity to their background rocks and are difficult to detect when not in flower. These are the commonly known as pebble plants or living stones; each species is associated with one particular type of rock formation and occurs nowhere else. Its soil-embedded, subterranean growth form also reduces the need for chemical defences against herbivores.
Bibliography
Major refences and further lectures
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Heidrun E. K. Hartmann (2002) “Aizoaceae F – Z” Springer
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Achim Hecktheuer (2008) “Mesembs, mehr als nur Lithops” Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt.
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Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole, Uwe Beyer, Yves Delange (2008) “Les Lithops” SUCCULENTES Spécial 2008 AIAPS (now Terra seca).
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Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole (2005) “LITHOPS Flowering Stones” Cactus & Co. Libri.
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Yasuhiko Shimada (2001) “The Genus Lithops” Dobun Shoin. ISBN 4-8103-4066-X
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Rudolf Heine (1986) “Lithops - Lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag.
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Bernd Schlösser (2000) “Lithops – Lebende Steine” Praktische Anleitung für die Zimmerkultur. BussinessPoint MEDIA.
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Steven A. Hammer (1999) “Lithops – Treasures of the veld” British Cactus and Succulent Society.
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Desmond T. Cole (1988) “Lithops – Flowering Stones” Acorn Books CC.
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Rudolf Heine (1986) “Lithops – lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag.
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David L. Sprechman (1970) “Lithops” Associated University Presses, Inc.
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Gert Cornelius Nel (1946) “Lithops” Hortors Limited, South Africa
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G. C . Nel “Lithops: Plantae succulantae, rarissimae, in terra obscuratae, e famailia Aizoaceae, ex Africa australi” Hortors Limited, 78, Bree Street, Cape Town, South Africa 1946
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