Description
Lithops schwantesii var. urikosensis is a distinct variety of the variable Lithops schwantesii. It distinguishes for the upper surface very rugose, slightly grey-white with about 18–23 dark blood-red dots and lines. The “christinae” form is a nice plant with very flat grey top and dark lines, new leaves are lovely coloured. It has the same variable characteristics of the species.
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 groups with 4-6 heads, but occasionally forming small mounds with up to 15 or more heads, up to 4 cm high. It is variable, but conforms to the typical Lithops morphology: two thick, fleshy windowed leaves separated by a crack from which a yellow flower appears [G.C. Nel 1946]. The windowed part allows light into the inner portion of the leaf where the process of photosynthesis is carried out. Old leaves persist for one year usually, often for two years.
Bodies (paired leaves): Truncate in profile, 20-40 mm long, 15-30 mm broad, window opaque; top of lobe rugose, the top surface of the wrinkles coloured pale yellowish-grey, in the depressions dark-brown dots, a few sometimes interconnected forming short lines of the same colour; dots and lines with a distinct dark mauve-grey border; in the older stage top of wrinkles assumes a more pronounced yellowish tint; the dots disappear and only darker coloured dendritic lines prominent.
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
From the Type Locality 45 km W of Maltahöhe, 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.
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”.
Bibliography
Major refences and further lectures
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Heidrun E. K. Hartmann “Aizoaceae F – Z” Springer 2002
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Achim Hecktheuer “Mesembs, mehr als nur Lithops” Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt. 2008
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Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole, Uwe Beyer, Yves Delange “Les Lithops” SUCCULENTES Spécial 2008 AIAPS (now Terra seca). 2008
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Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole “LITHOPS Flowering Stones” Cactus & Co. Libri. 2005
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Yasuhiko Shimada “The Genus Lithops” Dobun Shoin. 2001
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Rudolf Heine “Lithops - Lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag. 1986
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Bernd Schlösser “Lithops – Lebende Steine” Praktische Anleitung für die Zimmerkultur. BussinessPoint MEDIA. 2000
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Steven A. Hammer “Lithops – Treasures of the veld” British Cactus and Succulent Society. 1999
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Desmond T. Cole “Lithops – Flowering Stones” Acorn Books 1988
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Rudolf Heine “Lithops – lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag. 1986
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David L. Sprechman “Lithops” Associated University Presses, Inc. 1970
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Gert Cornelius Nel “Lithops” Hortors Limited, South Africa 1946
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Edgar Lamb “The illustrated reference on cacti and other succulents” Blandford Press. 1978
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Christopher Brickell, Royal Horticultural Society “RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants: K-Z., Volume 2” Kindersley, 2008
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G. C. Nel “Lithops: Plantae succulantae, rarissimae, in terra obscuratae, e famailia Aizoaceae, ex Africa australi” Hortors Limited, 1946
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