Lithops fulviceps C170 40 km N of Karasburg, Namibia

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Since 4 Aug 2013

Lithops fulviceps C170 40 km N of Karasburg, Namibia

Family: AIZOACEAE

Accepted Scientific Name: Lithops fulviceps
Gard. Chron. 1922, Ser. III. lxxi. 55. [Feb 4 1922]

Lithops fulviceps C170 40 km N of Karasburg, Namibia Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli

Origin and Habitat: 40 km North of Karasburg, Namibia.
Habitat: Its natural habitats are rocky areas and cold desert. The stones comprises quartzite, gneiss, quartzite and schist, calcrete and quartzite. The colour of the background varies from light to dark brown or reddish brown with some white and grey-white, or grey-white with some dark brown.

Synonyms:

Lithops fulviceps C170 40 km N of Karasburg, Namibia

See all synonyms of Lithops fulviceps

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Accepted name in llifle Database:
Lithops fulviceps N.E.Br.
Gard. Chron. 1922, Ser. III. lxxi. 55. [Feb 4 1922]
Synonymy: 18

Lithops fulviceps N.E.Br.

Mesembryanthemum fulviceps N.E.Br.
Mesembryanthemum ortendahlii Dinter

Cultivars (1):

Lithops fulviceps C363 Locality unknown (Namibia) cv. Aurea (Y.Shimada) D.T.Cole

Lithops fulviceps f. aurea Y.Shimada

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Common Names include:
ENGLISH: Living Stone., Stone Plant

Description: Lithops fulviceps is an orange-brown species generally smaller than most Lithops but its shape follows the same pattern of a cordate (heart-shaped), bifurcate body of two leaves.
Bodies (paired leaves): Truncate in profile, cleft nearly to the base. Faces flush, elliptic-reniform, slightly rugose, variable in colour.This species usually do not shows clearly evident margins, windows, channels and islands, but the top of the leaves are more or less reticulated by slightly impressed grooves that sometime form a conspicuous network, the usually very numerous and slightly raised dusky dots like miniature blisters over whole face. The patterns of colour and dots on the face is more or less regular within certain ranges of similarity. For this species, the dusky dots are very specific ranging in colour from dark grey through browns to purple.
Flowers: Yellow, medium sized up to 35 mm wide but usually less.
Fruit: 5-chambered capsules, top flat to slightly convex.
Seeds: Yellowish brown to brown; smooth to rugose.

Subspecies, varieties, forms and cultivars of plants belonging to the Lithops fulviceps group

Lithops fulviceps N.E.Br.: Cole numbers: C170, C220, C221, C266, C278, C284, C390, C391; (lydiae) C219
It is a medium sized elliptical plant about 30 X 23 to 40 X 27 mm wide, It branches easily and forms clumps with up to 10 (or more) heads, but usually less. It is somewhat variable in colour, usually uniform rusty yellow-brown to orange-red-brown, but also grey-brown, grey with greenish or pinkish or purplish tinges, but otherwise very uniform. Dusky dots are dark grey-green to blue-green. Shoulders often as for the face but duller.
Lithops fulviceps C170 40 km N of Karasburg, Namibia: reddish brown heads, red lines.
Lithops fulviceps C219 (syn. lydiae) TL: 60 km N of Karasburg, Namibia: dusky pinkish grey.
Lithops fulviceps C220 TL: 75 km N of Karasburg, Namibia: large dots, red lines, rust body.
Lithops fulviceps C221 85 km N of Karasburg, Namibia: red brown with red dashes and dots.
Lithops fulviceps C266 65 km N of Karasburg, Namibia: extra red large dots.
Lithops fulviceps C278 70 km W of Upington, South Africa: big spots.
Lithops fulviceps C284 15 km NE of Karasburg, Namibia: ochre bodies, many red dots and lines.
Lithops fulviceps C363 Locality unknown (Namibia) cv. Aurea (Y.Shimada) D.T.Cole: The plant originates in cultivation either in USA and in Japan, it is yellowish-green to or creamy-blue green in colour with white flower, but is otherwise the same as var. fulviceps. The usky dots are raised, dark dull greyish or bluish green. Rubrications (if present) is very fine pale brownish-orange.
Lithops fulviceps C390 30 km NW of Grünau, Namibia
Lithops fulviceps C391 25 km NW of Grünau, Namibia
Lithops fulviceps C415 (pale Form) Near Fish River Canyons, Namibia
Lithops fulviceps var. lactinea D.T.Cole: (Syn: Lithops. geoffreyi, Lithops verruculosa) Cole number: C222. It is endemic to a very small area where it is found growing on a gentle limestone slope. This plant except for the face colour is the same as the type. Face is opaque, milky bluish or greenish or pinkish grey-white or grey with dusky dots mainly bluish green. Shoulders milky grey-white, or bluish grey-white. Rubrications yellowish or reddish orange, sometimes barely visible. It is a medium medium to large plant up to 40 X 30 mm wide. Usually few branched with up to 4 heads (or more in cultivation).
Lithops fulviceps var. lactinea C222 TL: 100 km ESE of Keetmanshoop, Namibia: pinkish milky grey, red lines.
Lithops fulviceps var. laevigata D.T.Cole: Cole number: C412 This variety is quite uniform and distinguishable for it more smooth surface, as if polished. It has small subcutaneous dots, not the large raised dusky dots which characterize the type variety. The plants are also distinctly smaller in all dimensions, with rarely visible rubrications. The face and shoulders colour is always rusty brown, sometime with few distinguishable islands. The channels (if present) are dark olive-green and obscurely transluscent.
Lithops fulviceps var. laevigata C412 TL: 90 km NE of Pofadder, South Africa: very odd small convex form.

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
1) Heidrun E. K. Hartmann (2002) “Aizoaceae F – Z” Springer
2) Achim Hecktheuer (2008) “Mesembs, mehr als nur Lithops” Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt.
3) Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole, Uwe Beyer, Yves Delange (2008) “Les Lithops” SUCCULENTES Spécial 2008 AIAPS (now Terra seca). ISSN 0258-5359
4) Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole (2005) “LITHOPS Flowering Stones” Cactus & Co. Libri.
5) Yasuhiko Shimada (2001) “The Genus Lithops” Dobun Shoin.
6) Rudolf Heine (1986) “Lithops - Lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag.
7) Bernd Schlösser (2000) “Lithops – Lebende Steine” Praktische Anleitung für die Zimmerkultur. BussinessPoint MEDIA.
8) Steven A. Hammer (1999) “Lithops – Treasures of the veld” British Cactus and Succulent Society.
9) Desmond T. Cole (1988) “Lithops – Flowering Stones” Acorn Books CC.
10) Rudolf Heine (1986) “Lithops – lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag.
11) David L. Sprechman (1970) “Lithops” Associated University Presses, Inc.
12) Gert Cornelius Nel (1946) “Lithops” Hortors Limited, South Africa
13) Victor, J.E. 2005. Lithops fulviceps (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br. National Assessment: "Red List of South African Plants" version 2013.1. Accessed on 2014/02/09
14) Sonja Loots “Red Data Book of Namibian Plants” SABONET, 2005