Lithops - Lithops Species - Dr. Schwantes (1957)

Extraordinarily similar to L. pseudotruncatella but smaller and rather differently marked. A group of this species can be distinguished from L. pseudotruncatella at first glance. Rather more difficult in cultivation than the latter species.

Discovered in only one place about 9 square metres in extent in a crevice on the summit of the Ruschberg in 1925 by E. and O. Rusch according to W. Triebner at a height of 2400m. Since the locality is very restricted the danger of extermination is extremely great.

Recently Herr Triebner has discovered a similar plant on the main road from Windhoek to Rehoboth near the Bastardland at Kranzneus (‘mountain nose’) in heavy loam mixed with quartz stones. According to Triebner it is easily distinguished from L. pseudotruncatella by the shinning surface and uniform marking It forms groups of two to six bodies, is very rare, and will shortly be exterminated. I have not seen the plant, Herr Triebner says it fits Dinter’s description of L. alpine, even to the shinning surface of the newly discovered group. It grows at a height of 1480 m with a rainfall of 350mm.

Colour grey green to greyish brownish green, sometimes tinged with red or reddish grey, with a slight bluish opalescence and without green. Cleft deep to very deep, 0.5-1.5 cm and more. Top surface of the leaves marked with much branched, coalescing, dark, transparent lines and dots. In many specimens the lines run together in the centre of the top surface to make an almost uniform window.The markings resemble those of L. pseudotruncatella, from which, however, our species is distinguished by the plant body which is more elongated, much softer, often with green as the ground colour, and deeper cleft, and by the much smaller flower.

According to Frau Angelika Rusch at Lichtenstein and Herr Stoerboer at Lüderitz Bay, the flowers are 1-1.75 cm across with about 30 linear-lanceolate petals. The numerous stamens have yellow anthers. The ovary is included in the cleft, the capsule 5-celled.

First discovered by K. Dinter at Halenberg near Lüderitz Bay, later also by Herr Eberlanz and Herr Stoerber (of Lüderitz Bay) in the Kovisbergen.

On 9 August, 1924, Herr Stoerber reported: 'It has not rained for a year in the Kovisberge. The plants were so dried up that one almost doubted if they would recover after rain.' It is the second species found in the Kovisbergen, the other being L. Eberlanzii. Although the bodies were so dried up, yet the plants flowered, an event that Herr Dinterand Herr Eberlanz had observed also in Lithops and Dinteranthus.

When one considers the frightful aridity of the Kovisberge one can understand that both these Lithops easily rot off with us. They are amongst the most difficult species in the genus and hardly persist with us even under the best possible conditions. L. Francisci especially, which was named after Frantz De Laet at Contich near Antwerp, is a truly frightening plant to grow. I find that this plant can only be kept alive if it is never watered, which obviously is absurd for any considerable time. Patient experimenting may perhaps yield the still unknown secret of its cultivation. Above all complete dryness in winter should be tried, with a little water during the sunniest and hottest period of the summer. I have not yet seen flowers either on my own plants or an any others grown in Europe.

The author describes the leaves as follows: 'Growths solitary or in a clump of two to four, up to 1 in. high, 1.25 in. broad and 1 in. thick, nearly flat or slightly convex at the top, which varies from bright fulvous to dingy pinkish rust colour, thickly sprinkled with rather large, round, dark green dots, which are usually slightly raised, but sometimes almost even with the surface, and scattered among the dots are few or several inconspicous slender orange-red irregular lines or dots, usually placed in slight depressions of the surface so that the latter is usually very slightly tuberculate-rugulose to the touch.'

South West Africa, Great Karasberg, at South Narudas 4300 feet above sea level, in sandy places, discovered by Professor Pearson.

Professor Dinter also collected this plant: "The 3rd September brought us a big surprise. Herr Ortendahl had told us on an earlier occassion of a hottentottenpopo which grew at Gründhorn and when he said that the species had yellow flowers, I had asked him to send some specimens.'

'Now he was here and opened a little parcel before our expectant eyes. When the treasure lay unwrapped before us, I thought for a moment that it was Mesembryanthemum summitatum. The colour of the body is almost the same bright reddish ochre as in M.s., the shape and size and the cleft likewise. But the surface at the top is not only irregularly interwoven by blunt grooves as in M.s. but divided by a network of sharper grooves into polygonal areas. The chief difference, however, lies in the numerous windowed dots which appear blackish green but are really colourless, 0.5 mm across, sharp edged, round, the upper surface looking very freckled. And on the subterranean green part of the cone the white dots of calcium oxalate are much more numerous than in M. summitatum. A more important distinction, which Herr O. pointed out to me, is the flower which is yellow and not snow white as in M.s I hope during the summer to be able to establish even more important differences in the form of the flower. According to Herr O. the species does not grow on quartz but on desert limestone areas and in fact in the crevices of the limestone.'

On 7 October 1923 Professor Dinter found L. fulviceps in yet another place (Sukkulentenforschung in Südwestafrika, II, p. 20): 'When putting a dozen or so twigs into the collecting case I saw in the red earth between white quartz chips a little yellowish stone with unusual markings. I am proud to say that I recognised its true nature at once and drew with the spade a foot wide circle round it and then summone my wife to inspect it. Contrary to expectation she succedded very quickly. She also took the object to be Mes. karasmontanum (L. karasmontana) and was so pleased as I was to see it again over 30 km from its locus classicus. But something struck me as odd about this find so I took a lens and at first glance recognised Mes. fulviceps which we had so far known only from Herr Ortendahl's specimens from Groendorn. We started the return journey with thirty specimens of this gem which we had wanted so much - some half dozen others we could not get out even with the stone-cutter's chisel and had to leave behind. On a plain adjacent to the quartz hill I found in a crevice a smooth horizontal sandstone table over 100 square metres in extent a twin-headed Mes. that without a lens I took to be a true M. karasmontanum. It was more elongated than M. fulviceps and had markings and humps just like M. karasmontanum. To my great surprise, however, I recognised it at one glance through the lens, which showed up the green dots, as M. fulviceps also. All search for any other similar specimens was in vain. On some dozen similar quartz hills during the next few days I found quantities of Ceraria namaquensis, but never again M. fulviceps. I found on one such occassion, amongst broken quartz, small pits in the dark ochre-coloured earth which were fairly regular in shape. By probing them I found something soft at the bottom and as I dug up the soil with the chisel, there came to light a series of about six much shrunken, almost russet-black-green rosettes of Haworthia Engelri Dint., an interesting tiny Aloe which I wanted and which I had hoped in vain to find again at Klein Karas whence my wife had sent it to me in 1913.'

Plant body 2-2.5 cm long with the top surface up to 3.5 cm across. These like the sides light yellowish grey or pearl greyish white, a slightly milky tea colour as Dinter aptly remarked, and broken up by a network of thin and sharply defined dark grooves into numerous humps. the cleft is 2-4 mm deep. Flower is 2.5 cm across, yellow, opening in the afternoon, with a strong scent of almonds.

In Herero land between Uis and Neineis on the Brandberg, found by Herr Ernst Rusch in August 1927. Concerning this voyage of discovery Frau Angelika Rusch has told me the following: the journey was undertaken between Ascension Day and Whitsun and brought a large party of hunters into this remote region. One of the participants had killed an oryx antelope and was busy photographing this trophy. In the meantime the others were searching around the neighbourhood. One of the men found an Anacampseros which he bought to Herr Rusch to be named. The latter at once said to his wife: 'Where this occurs there should also be Lithops'. The man lead then to the place where there were several Anacampseros and there Herr Rusch soon found the first specimen of L. gracilidelineata. He found a small colony of the plants and other isolated ones nearby. That was all that was found of this beautiful species on that occassion.

According to a report from Herr W. Triebner of Windhoek, this species is very sporadic. It is interesting that Herr Triebner of Windhoek established the island-like occurrence throughout the area of distribution of L. Ruschiorum. Hybrids were never seen, although both species belong to Subgenus Xantholithops.

I received from Mr. R. G. Strey a plant which belongs here, said to have been found on 'quartz mountain in the Namib'. The two specimens were almost pure white, such as I had never seen before in Lithops, and hard as wood, rather like Haworthia verrucosa. Since the plant that we then grew under the name L. gracilidelineata looked completely different it could not belong to that species, so I considered the plant found by Mr. Strey to be a new species which I described under the name L. Streyi. It must, however, have been an extrene colour form of L. gracilidelineata. In its native land it must so closely resemble in colour the white quartz in which it grows that I imagine it must be extremely hard to find. According to Herr Triebner the species is also found at Franzfontein far to the north of the Brandberg. Recently Herr Emil Jensen of Walvis Bay sent plants of this species from the spur of the mountain of the Gungochoab, south of Walvis Bay. 'Only on quartz ridges where the sand does not drift, do they grow, quite concealed in the crevices in the quartz and not projecting above their surroundings, and only at the eastern edge where the moisture from the ridge can still reach them, that is, protected from the sea wind and not too much exposed to the mid-day sun.'

Top surfaces uneven, divided into warts by grooves, brownish. Flowers 4 cm across, ovary included, calyx lobes projecting somewhat, errect, bent together like a tube; lanceolate, pistil straw yellow, reddened on the back somewhat towards the tip; stamens numerous, erect, white. Ovary flat with 5 thread-like stigmas.

In the eastern Karroo, in the Somerset East district, introduced to Kew in 1875 by MacOwan.

The species was well illustrated in colour by the younger Hookeri in Botanical Magazine t.6077, under the erroneous name of Mesembryanthemum truncatellum, which later was used for all sorts of spheroidical Mesembryanthemaceae with truncated plant bodies. Alwin Berger changed the name to Mesembryanthemum Hookeri (Mesembryanthemum and Portulacaceen, 1908, p. 283) and also reproduced Hooker's illustration of the flowering plant [l. c, Fig. 64]. The species seems to have been found again only once so far, at Prince Albert, by the well known and excellent photographer of plants, animals and men, Herbert Lang. His picture corresponds exactly with the illustrations of L. Hookeri by Hooker and Berger. According to Professor Nel, in this eastern region of Cape Province only L. terricolor N.E. Br. had previously been found, which extends as far as the Willowmore District. The question now arrises whether L. terricolor, which normally has a flat top surface, may occassionally appear on the form shown by Herbert Lang's find. I thought some years ago that I could answer yes to this question, as a result of observations made in the Kiel Botanic Gardens. It has now turned out that with the humped surface which I took for L. terricolor was not L. terricolor, but is a quiet distinct species. If, nevertheless, warty forms of L. terricolor do occur, which would not be surprising in view of the very great variability of the form of the top surface of the bodies in the species of Lithops, then the name L. terricolor must be replaced by L. Hookeri. To settle the question a search for Lithops with a warty surface must be made both at Prince Albert and throughout the Somerset East district. Then it is to be hoped that the long-continued discussion on this species might be brought to a conclusion; for not only did Professor Marloth attempt to compare L. lesliei N.E. Br., which has a warty surface in the dried up condition, with L. Hookeri, but Dr. N.E. Brown also asserted that L. turbiniformis, on account of its furrowed top surface, might be the long lost L. Hookeri, a vain attempt since the localities where they are found are too widely separated.

The ground colour of the top surfaces of the leaves is light or pearl grey, pale pink, light yellow, sometimes changing to greenish or even bluish, ochre brown to dark brown, with numerous branched lines of red brown or lighter colouring with few or many grey green dots between. Often there is found on either side of the cleft a more or less transparent patch which looks like a grease spot and may be as much as 1 cm in diameter. The colour of the lines and dots depends, according to Ötztig, on a large number of chloroplasts in and below the epidermal cells. In the intervening areas the number is greatly reduced. 'Anthocyanin is also present occassionally under the network of lines. In the dots which look almost like grease spots, large water vessels lie in the mesophyll so that when the light falls obliquely they appear grey green in colour' (Ötztig), Stigmas 5-10. In this species I first recognised that lithops of the Sub-genus Xantholithops had a tendency to exceed the 'normal' number 0f 5-6 for the stigmas, ovaries and capsule cells.

Concerning the distribution Herr W. Triebner writes me as follows: 'The Khomas plateau, twenty miles west of Windhoek, in heavy red loam with broken quartz. This widely distributed species which occurs over some 150 square miles, extends from Windhoek towards the east, and further east still as variety Mundtii. Several hundred thousand plants together. Height 1800-2200 m, rainfall 350 mm. Ten years ago a fungus disease attacked the plants in their native locality to which some 50% fell a prey. As far as I can tell now, these stocks have regenerated themselves. This species forms groups of 2-30 heads, very variable in patterning.

Further details of this species, the most widely distributed in cultivation, will be found on p. 182, 189.

No other species has attracted so much discussion about its 'varieties' or closely related forms. The questions are, even today, still difficult to answer.

Herr Rusch of Lichtenstein in a letter writes as follows concerning L. pseudotruncatella: 'As soon as new bodies appear on the Lithops, it should not be watered; for the plant lives on the sap from the older leaves till these are reduced to thin skins. If water is given at this stage, the plant invariably rots off. Here, after the rainy period, the Lithops are fully developed. By the end of May the nights become quite cool, becoming even colder during June and July. But the sun always shines each day though not so strongly as in the hotter season. For at least six months the plants are without rain or dew. In October the old bodies are completely used up and as soon as the first rain falls, growth begins anew.'

One reads now and then of a white-flowered form of this species. This has, however, been found once only by a Herr E. Toepfer, at Kareol near Windhoek. He wrote about it to Herr E. Rusch: 'The one white flowered L. pseudotruncatella which I sent to Professor Dinter was the only one out of some 3000 plants... I have never seen a white flowering plant again since then, this was and remains the only one. If I should have the luck to see a white one again, I would willingly sent it to you, that I promise you.' This plant was evidently a sport or mutation. Since all Lithops are self-sterile, the seeds of such a plant would produce hybrids, which in all probability would all have yellow flowers. But if these hybrids were intercrossed the white form would reappear and one could then produce a pure breed by crossing between themselves. Plants with white flowers would contrast very effectively with the usual yellow ones.

Plant body 2-4.5 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, cleft 5-20 mm deep. As a result of the extraordinarily deep cleft and the often very convex leaf tips which now and then are distinctly keeled, the two united leaves stand out as such much more clearly in this species than in the other Lithops. The colour varies from milky pearl grey to more yellow or reddish chocolate shades. The sides particularly are often tinged with amethyst. At the leaf tips very often appear quite small roundish or pointed pits which often, from the pit outwards, have linear prolongations in the form of very narrow lines which may run from pit to pit or unite several pits together. In many plant bodies these lines of pits, on the other hand, are very prominent but the pits are still always recognisable as the primary element in their course. Occassionally plants or individuals appear with no markings at all. The pits and lines are transparent, yellow or red. Forms clumps up to 60 plant bodies, according to W. Triebner.

This species seems to indicate how the form of Lithops has arisen from the Mesembryanthmaceae with only slightly united leaves. It is therefore a sort of primitive Lithops. The union of the leaf pairs is here still comparatively slight, the ends of the leaves sometimes distinctly keeled, which should indicate that the top surface in Lithops is the underside of the leaf drawn forward like a chin, since the upper side of the leaf in Mesembryanthemaceae is never keeled. The tops of the leaves show the beginnings of a window-like interruption of the epidermis markedly encrusted with lime outside. The chlorophyll has not yet disappeared from the cells below the epidermis but is present only under the transparent depressions which may well, in very exceptional cases, as Professor Dinter once observed, in the garden at Lichtenstein attain a size of up to 1 sq. cm. Finally this species grows completely above ground in later life, not partially buried in the earth. Hence these plants can easily be seen and readily fall into the hands of collectors which explains the extraordinary decrease in their numbers in recent years. It is therefore well worth noting that the young seedlings are drawn down into the ground which indicates that the origin of the Lithops species with the leaves united for a greater distance in the early stage and the disappearance below ground by means of contractile roots represents an adaption in the sensitive juvenile stage to the great aridity of their native land.

Fowers comparitively small, 2-2.5 cmm across. Capsule 5-6-partite with comparitavely few seeds which may be considered large for a Lithops. Flowered for the first time in the garden at Lichtenstein , and later in the collection of my friend, Dr. J. Derenberg in Hamburg and actually from the type plant grown there (see Colour Plate 6).

Found in 1923 by Herr Ernst Rusch Sen. in the neighbourhood of Khan copper mine, 10 km west of Rössing and the old State railway, and named after the family of the discoverer. At Rössing (W. Triebner) L. Ruschiorum grows on limestone. Later Herr Rusch found it again at Arandis, but this time on separate quartz hills which, shinning out white from afar, reared up oddly from the yellow sand. One hill was searched thoroughly but produced nothing. On returning to the car, which stood in the sandy area at the crossing of the slope of the hill, it could be seen that the whole area on which the car was standing was full of Lithops and many had been crushed by the wheels. The quartz (often Rose quartz) is here bedded on limestone so that possibly lime is a necessity for this species which is so difficult in cultivation. At that spot many plants were found pulled out of the ground and tracks of bustards, partridge-like birds.

The species is extremely variable.

Plant body 0.75-1.5 cm high and wide, 0.5-0.75 cm thick, almost spherical or cone-shaped with the cleft going right across tops of the leaves convex, smooth, very pale ash grey or ash grey to brownish or grey, without dots or with separate very small dots or marked with very inconspicuous dots running into the lines. Flowers 8-10 mm across, dark yellow and scented. Capsule 3-5 mm across, 5-celled. Seeds very small.

On a strip of coast five to thirty-five miles distant from the sea from Cape Cross to the mouth of Ugab, South West Africa. Discovered by W. Triebner of Windhoek and sent to the Botanic Garden at Kiel. Named after Professor Nel of Stellenbosch who also shared in the discovery. According to W. Triebner forms clumps of up to 37 bodies.

I received the first specimens of this charming dwarf sub-species in the summer of 1938 from Herr E. Rusch of Lichtenstein Farm who had the plant from Herr Triebner. They have hardly changed at all as a result of better feeding and watering, but have retained their inherited dwarf form. I therefore thought, in spite of the great similarity to L. Ruschiorum, for it has the same shape and colouring, though sometimes entirely without markings or only a few impressed dots or a few, chiefly short, fine lines, that the plat represented a well defined, distinct species. It is of interest here to include a brief communication from Herr Triebner to H. Herre, the Curator at Stellenbosch: 'This Lithops is the smallest species I know and is different from L. Ruschiorum, which occurs further south, in important details. Its occurence extends over an area of about 3000 square miles, that is along the coastal strip from Cape Cross to the mouth of the Ugab River at a distance of some five to thirty-five miles from the coast. In contrast to L. Rsuchiorum this Lithops grows only in brackish quartz scree on the level, together with Crassula mesembrianthemopsis amd Anacampseros quinaria. It differs from all other Lithops in that its roots run horizontally and not vertically, for in this area it never rains and the roots must be able to absorb every drop of dew or mist at the surface... Plant body uniform in colour, without any markings, in groups of 2 to 50 heads, very small, usually in its native place about the size of a pea. In cultivation the body swells up to twice this size. Flowers seldom but divides freely so that from an old plant body, as in Conophytum saxetanum which is also a species which rarely flowers, three or four bodies appear. Fowers dark yellow, small, 8-10 mm in diameter, with a faint scent of Mignonette. Flowering in September in its native place, usually in cultivation in January. Seeds very small and usually in nature washed out by mist. The plants seem to live a long time as a result of the low rainfall in the area; I found plants with as many as 150 dried out skins on them. Even if we assume, which, however, I doubt, that owing to the influence of heavy mist, the plant bodies divide twice in the year, this would give an age of seventy-five-years, but probably the plants are much older, for in many years no growth is made at all. In any case a most interesting species.'

I have described these plants as L. Nelii. After the discovery of the subspecies Stiepelmannii by Herr Triebner I, however, consider it better to make L. Nelii a subspecies of L. Ruschiorum also. L. lineata Nel is L. Ruschiorum typica. The locality given 'about thirty miles north of Walvis Bay; Mr. Els' is erroneous according to Triebner. Mr. Els, a resident of Strand near Cape Town, received from a friend in Swakopmund a few particularly well-marked specimens of L. Ruschiorum, but the locality from whence they came is unknown.

The smooth, faintly shinning, fairly markedly convex, reddish grey, slightly transparent leaf tips show a very irregular patterning in the form of scattered blood red dots and lines and are bordered by a pale rust yellow band 2-2.5 mm wide; cleft about 3-4 mm deep.

At Barby, South West Africa on loam as well as limestone, also found at Krügerpütz by Herr Ernst Rusch in August 1926. Herr W. Triebner says: 'Occurs only on limestone screes (desert limestone) between Kunjas and Barby. Almost exterminated by insects (mimicry locusts) and small cattle (sheep and goats). The statement by Professor Dinter that the species also occurs near Barby in red loam is a mistake.'

I received from Herr Triebner the following observations on this species: 'I do not believe that L. Schwantesii is completely exterminated for the area of distribution is too large. Unfortunately this species grows in pure desert limestone in the crevices and clefts, and is therefore very difficult to find. The absolutely flat limestone plateau stetches from Barby to Kunjas and is about a mile broad and some 35 miles long and is very difficult to search thoroughly since it is in one of the driest areas in the country. The limestone surface hardly absorbs any water; this trickels down the cracks and clefts into the soil below and, as a consequence, the vegetation is very sparse. Euphorbias, Trichocaulon and a few species of Talinum thrive here, otherwise there is nothing. This year (1955) it has hardly rained at all in this area, so it is useless to search there, for any plants that may possibly still be present will be under the surface covered with sand. After a good rainy season it is pretty sure that some specimens will be found. What puzzles me is Dinter's remark that he has found the same Lithops near Barby in clay. Dinter's description of the habitats are such that so far I have always succeeded in finding again the plants discovered by him at the original loclaity; but in this case I have failed. Besides, this statement is contrary to my experience that Lithops which grows on limestone never occurs on a clay soil. Either Dinter is mistaken in the kind of soil or it is a question of a new species which has not been found again so far. I remember Pearson's description of L. fulviceps: "Locality near Namibia in sandy places." The sandy plains, however, are limestone steppes covered only with a thin layer of blown sand. Such statements lead to confusion.'

Leaf pair unusually unequal; up to 4 cm long, solitary or in close clumps up to four together. Ends of leaves flat or slightly convex, up to 3 cm across. General colouring dove grey (blue grey). Top surfaces of the leaves when young greyish white to almost white, marked with a larger number of pale light bluish spots, in some cases largely consisting of dots and a few lines running together into patches whilst in other plants the dots chiefly form lines. With age the top surface becomes whiter and whiter and the markings disappear till finally the upper surface looks as if it were covered with white varnish. Cleft at most 3 mm deep at the sides. Flowers yellow. Capsule 6-8-celled, usually 7-celled, 6-celled only in small capsules on small plants. Stalk of the capsule winged. Outer wall of the capsule deeply indented. Seeds almost round, somewhat compressed, with distinct little points, golden brown.

South West Africa, found at Nabitsaus Farm in the Rehoboth district, by Herr W. Giess, on small quartz hills, about 1 km north-east of Bergland station, in quartz screes which contain a great deal of calcareous spar and iron ore. Only on the northern slope of the hill. Soil reddish brown with a fair amount of humus. In company with Barbacenia minuta (very plentiful), Eragrostis denudata and Pennisetum ciliare. Anacampseros tomentosa (plentiful at the places where the other species of Lithops are found on another quartz hill) occurs sporadically. A. tomentosa flowered on 4 October 1953.

Flowered in Herr Giess' garden in February and March 1954, in its locality all were in flower on 6 November 1954.

I have to thank Herr W. Giess and H. Herre for plants of this species. At the request of Herr Giess I have named this plant after Professor D.O.H. Volk of Wurzburg.

When in 1953 I received the first plant of this species from Herr Herre, I was surprised at its appearance. I had never seen before Lithops with this sort of surface looking as if varnished with white. Once can understand how difficult this plant would be to find against the stoney background of the countryside [Pl. 59, a].

The species is of systematic interest in that the number of the seed cells varies from 6-8 (as I can confirm after the examination of 14 capsules by Herr Giess and 6 capsules by myself). Here the normal number 5 (6) is constantly exceeded and the tendency to the increase in the capsule cells, which is characteristic of the Xantholithops, is here more evident than in any other species of this subgenus.

Plant body cone-shaped, 10 mm high and wide, with a slit going right across the top surface which is convex and either grey or yellowish grey or even brown coloured. It is crossed by 2-3 narrow, dark brownish green, dendritic, branched grooves, which run at right angles to the cleft. There are usually a few isolated, very small, round flecks also. The imported plants generally consist of one, rarely two plant bodies, one only had five.

South West Africa at the foot of the Erongo Mountains twenty-five miles south-west of Usakos, in broken granite. Found by Herr Werner Triebner (Windhoek) and named after him.

With regard to the discovery Herr Wilhelm Triebner writes as follows: 'Werner Triebner found the plant when making an excursion into the romantic Erongo Mountains, but only because it was in flower. He brought back some plants and the following week I visited the locality and collected several hundred. At the foot of the granite massif, 1600 m high, there is a horizontal, gently inclined ledge about 200 square metres in extent, on which in the course of hundreds of years, shallow troughs have been formed by errosion. These troughs, each of them no more than a few sqaure metres in area, are filled with coarse granite in which the Lithops grow, covered by short grass about 5-6 cm high. When resting the plant bodies range in size from a pin's head to a pea and are very hard to find. The unusual green marking is not found in any other Lithops species.

'It is astonishing that in this thin layer of stones in the shallow troughs in the weathered granite the small bodies are able to survive the nine months' long dry period. The same phenomenon is to be found in the case of succulent Chamaegigas intrepidus. Owing to the small size this new species is unlikely to be found by the inexperienced which, since the area, on account of the beauty of the landscape, is a favourite place for excursions, is all to the good.'

L. Werneri is probably the most interesting discovery made by the Triebner family; it is by far the smallest species of Lithops and extraordinarily distinct from all the others. Herr W. Triebner has sent me the following additional information: 'This dwarf form grows so hidden in fine granite chips and is so well hidden by a dwarf form of grass, Aristida, with which it appears to live symbiotically, that it is difficult for even the keenest seekers to find it. It was just by accident that my son found it. We were looking for bulbs of a tiny little Babiana and, when digging these out, found the first plant body. The locality is only a few square meters in extent and that is the most wonderful part of the discovery. The Erongo Mountains are a range running from south to north, about 30 miles long and 1-2 miles wide; although we searched all day long and thoroughly in all the places in this range that resembled the original site, we never found a single other spot with Lithops on it. How then has this species arisen and why has it not spread further afield? Round about the habitat there are a number of similar places, only a few meters away from the first; why are there no Lithops there? These riddles of nature are very puzzling. I am very earger to hear how your seedlings develop, whether they retain their dwarf character or whether they will take after their larger brothers and whether they retain green window markings which exist in no other Lithops, etc.'

It may be remarked that, since the discovery of this species, our botanical garden has grown several original specimens which each year have retained their original form but have never flowered. Seedlings grow very quickly and in about two years attain the size of flowering plant.

Top surface pearl grey or ochre grey with very beautiful dark, somewhat impressed, branched markings of wide grooves or with an almost uniform window.

Locality: South West Africa, near Aus, discovered by Mr. E. C. Phillipp. Grows on hillocks in sandy gravelly soil and is so like its surroundings that the plants are difficult to find.

Professor Dinter has described the meeting with L. bella most vividly (Sukkulentenforschungen in Sudwestafrika, Supplement of Repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis, published by Dr. Fedde, Vol. 23, Dahlem, near Berlin, 1923): 'The species of Mesembryanthemum of the Sphaeroidea group are at the moment the favourites of many of our best experts. I felt the comfort of my house and people and stole forth secretly into the great mountains, only 80-120 m high, but very wild and steep, that rise behind the village. Only 400 paces to their foot and yet it took me a good hour. At every step something turned up, sometimes the shining, milk white, 5 cm stars of the lovely Gazania variabilis, then the golden yellow Dimorphotheca polyptera, next the dainty-flowered annual(!) Pelargonium fumarioides and then the almost hemispherical, tight, gorgeous green, spiney mounds of Aptosimum viscosum (Scroph.), whose flowers are such a wonderful gentian blue, one surprise after another which, coming from the east, one sees for the first time, One had to shout for joy! Finally I arrived amongst the first granite blocks, fallen from the mountain, a cubic metre in size, and climbed up a watercourse. At a height of 80 m I came to a small slightly inclined plateau strewn with grey splinters of granite 2-5 sq. cm in size, between which one could hardly see the yellow ground. And great was the joy of discovery when I saw a beautiful, smooth, tight, twin-headed little plant, obviously a new Mes. pseudotruncatellum, for it was one of those that Marloth would have described as a windowed plant. On the upper surfaces it showed a window 1 sq. cm in area (without dots or dendritic markings) with an indistinctly scalloped edge and outside the windows the usual dots and markings, I hunted around and with difficulty found four more specimens which I dug out carefully with the intention of going back in the afternoon with the men so as to find them then if possible with the flowers open. I leapt down the mountain with my treasures to my house to show it to my collector. I had never seen this man who, independently and together with me, had already discovered many new and rare plants, show such unfeigned delight as over this find. I had held the thing on the flat of my hand under his nose without saying a word. 'Oh, oh, that is not Provianthemum from Lichtenstein, that is a new species' (earlier he said 'kind', since the days of Lichtenstein 'species'). It needed little persuasion to induce him and August to go with me that very afternoon to collect the gem, instead of tidying up the chaos in my house. We had not yet reached the top in the forenoon when I dropped on my knees and furiously scraped the soil with the pointed digger. An eight-headed Mesembryanthemum with six radiant white flowers! I wish every single one of our Mesembryanthemum enthusiasts in Germany could have such an experience. It is unforgettable. We saw it from then on at almost every step. On the plain in this morning in hundreds and hardly a single-headed specimen among them, and in the afternoon in thousands up to half-past four. Then not so plentifully, probably because about this time they were lost to view as the flowers closed. And only early today had I found the first plant, pinc-nez on nose, slithering round on my knees before I got four bits! I declared myself satisfied with some 150 beautiful specimens and we set off for home. I will just say this, to pacify those who, on reading the last sentence, murmur "vandalism", that the hundreds of thousands seen on each of the following days on all the hills and in all suitable ravines, continually displaying their innocent beauty to our astonished gaze, never aroused in us collector's greed. On the 150 I had collected were many ripe capsules of the previous year. out of which, by laying them for a quarter of an hour in warm water as I do with all Mesembryanthemum species, I could wash many seeds. I had already entered my supposedly "novum" find in my catalogue as Mes. Delaetianum Dint., sp. nov., since this gentleman had supported my expedition in a wholehearted manner by a generous contribution, when a few days later I had a letter from my friend Schwantes at Hamburg, in which he called my attention to the Lithops bella N.E. Br., which two Cape botanists had found at Aus in the war years. A glance at the diagnosis enclosed showed at once that it was my Mes. Delaetianum. Promptly, though with a heavy heart, I changed the name in my catalogue to Mesembryanthemum bellum (N.E. Br.) Dtr.

'It struck me too that M. bellum always grew only on the small or larger ledges round the plateaux on the steeper slopes, never at the foot of the mountains on the flat. I ate a plant and confirmed my suspicion. It was edible and could be used to slake thirst when water was scarce, It was not salty and the taste not unpleasant. The same can be said of Mes. pseudotruncatellum from Auasberg. The fear of alkali prevents the "better" species (that is the most valued to the expert) from growing on the horizontal surfaces where so much potash from the weathering of mica and feldspar on the mountains comes to rest and accumulates amongst all the other alkalies. What a tremendous difference, too, between the slow-growing aristocratic species of the heights and the plebians of the flat plains; such, for example, as the annual Mes. grandifolium which in a short ten months from seed can produce plant material weighing 20 lb., of which 19 lb. or more are water, 1 lb. or more carbohydrate and nitrogenous matter, which between them give only a few grams of ash!'

L. bella according to W. Triebner, is always found on the tops of granite mountains in and around Aus, on inclined slopes covered with granite scree. On account of the inaccessibility of the mountains very plentiful.

Plant body soft, pearl grey; top surfaces convex, decorated with branched, fine but mostly broad and often conspicuous grooves.

Locality: South West Africa, Kovisberg. Found there by Herr Friedrich Eberlanz (Lüderitz Bay) and named after him.

Closely related to L. bella but distinguished from it in certain features which are difficult to put into words but obvious to the eye. The marking is the same in both but the contrast is much less in L. Eberlanzii. Difficult in cultivation and rarely flowers.

Interesting information on the occurence of Lithops in the area round Lüderitz Bay we owe to Herr F. Eberlanz and Herr E. Stoeber. We are here in the region of the Namib, the coastal desert of South West Africa, which follows the western shore. Since I believe that the reader will understand his plants better if he knows where they come from, I conclude with a few excerpts from letters concerning this region. On 17 January 1927, Herr Eberlanz wrote: 'Now in our summer time there is little point in collecting plants; everything is dry and dead. Always sunshine and always wind, that is our summer here in the Namib. My daughter looks after ther meteorological station here, so I am kept well informed. At 8.30 in the evening 400-500 m and so it has been more or less since October; we once had 1000-1200 m but this is rare. With such winds travelling is no joke... In July of last year we spent eight days in the Kovis Mountains and more. Despite the hardships involved, these journeyings through the desert in the solitude are for me the most beautiful things I can do. Far away from the haunts of man I have spent many hours alone, which I count as real hours of recreation and would not miss. One thing, however, is always an anxiety, the question of water. For six years our watering place was in the Kovis Mountains (Bankwasser) close under the surface but we had to dig over 2 m deep into the loose sand to get to the water. Another known waterhole, about 15 km further on, contained brackish, muddy water, water; if there is nothing else it must be drunk. It is six or seven years since the last time that our part of the Namib had rain. It will be lovely when we desert dwellers can exist, like our wild animals, without taking in water, but we have not got so far yet. As I wrote above, we set off last June of the previous year, with two natives and two pack animals. Stoeber and I had tried several times previously to reach the chain of hills which lies within the belt of dunes but had to return for want of water. This time I had two containers holding 40 litres prepared and then when the journey across the sand hills to unknown distances cound be begun. During the crossing of the dunes, which we started at 9.30 in the morning in a cold north wind, the wind changed round to the east and it was very warm for an excursion into the dunes.' From Hohenberg in the Kovis Mountains Herr Eberlanz wrote: 'If we ever get rain here, it comes only from the north and it seems to me it sweeps over the Hohenberg. If at Lüderitz Bay, according to Dinter's report, we have about ninety kinds of plant, then I esitmate, the number on the Hohenberg at twenty. Every kilometre towards the coast produces new kinds. This year, however, I hope to go further east, following on my last year's trip. Everything is unknown, white mountains never trodden before... The wind is very strong and one can hardly stand on the mountains. One especially strong gust blew my apparatus and its tripod right down the mountains, at least 10 m, but it was stopped by a Milk Bush so that it came to no great harm.'

In the Kovis Mountains Herr Eberlanz found the plant that was named after him, L. Eberlanzii (Dint. et Schwant.) N.E. Br. Pl. 60a shows the place where it was first discovered, of which in 1923 Herr Stoeber remarked: 'They are found in the middle of the part of the river with water in it. Waterholes can be dug out at 50-90 cm according to the season. To the left was a slope merging into the level surface. On this surface we found about a dozen specimens after diligent search. On the slope of the mountain to the left in the foreground grew Psammophora Nissenii in quantity.' A photograph, taken by Herr Eberlanz, shows the plants in their natural surroundings. Here, too, the little bodies are plunged in the sand up to the top surface. One should be careful of the thick but short root, which is protected from drying up, as in all Lithops, by thick layers of cork which form quite a broad wing twisted like a screw. The top surface is bluish or yellowish light grey, with some or few impressed, branched lines without dots; flowers white. It is surprising that the skins remaining from earlier bodies should be lying on the inside of the clump but the plant bodies themselves on the outside [Pl. 60, b]. The explanation given by the oblique form of the plant. With the growth of the young body after the rain they expand considerably but only find space towards the outside. For this reason when the old sheaths busrst asunder they allow the plant to escape sideways. The roots in many of the clumps likewise run out sideways which indicates that they are utilising dew or misty rain. The most beautiful piece of L. Eberlanzii that I ever saw was brought to me by Fran v. d. Hagen personally from Lüderitz Bay to Hamburg. Here the branching of the markings on the upper surface was much wider and not sunken, also redder in colour than in "typical" examples. This form, however, often occurs among the normal plants.

According to a communication from Herr W. Triebner, L. Eberlanzii and L. Francisci grow together in the Kovis and Halenbergen. 'L. Eberlanzii also grows near L. Erniana (thirty miles as the crow flies) and it would only need a thorough examination to make sure that they are really two species.'

Top surfaces slightly convex, with slightly impressed, branched, indistinctly translucent grooves. The colour of the body resembles pearl grey limestone or slightly opalescent, shimmering pebbles with strongly weathered surface, a reddish tinge on the sides. Marking the outside and almost never absent, is an ochre brown line or a row of similar dots on each side of the cleft, sometimes also at the outer edge of the top surface. In many specimens the grooves are almost entirely absent.

South West Africa. Found by Professor Dinter halfway between Vahldorn and Warmbad, later at Warmbad.

The groove marking the top surface is seldom so deeply impressed for the surface to appear tuberculate. More often, on the contrary, it appears only as a faintly visible marking, which often coalesces to an almost uniform fleck. These forms have led to the setting up of 'varieties' which, however, cannot be maintained because they often occur in one and the same stock.

With regard to the finding of this species, which Professor Dinter and I named after our friend Dr. Julius Derenberg, Dinter reports as follows: 'For at least half an hour, separately and foot by foot, we had gone forward searching, without finding a thing so that I was just deciding to give up when, close to my feet I saw a yellowish white something which in form and colour looked just like a little Mes. Margarethae. Lying down I examined it with a lens and recognised it at once as a small species of Lithops. The guide came at once in answer to my call, saw the marvel which was twin-headed despite its size and began to hunt eagerly with the result that after working for two hours we had nine specimens, all twin-headed. It is a charming little species. Its surface area in the wild is no larger than 1.5 x 1 cm and the sides of the cone no longer than 1 cm. The colour is brownish white just like whitish, very milky tea; the slightly convex leaf tips have a very pretty patterning like a net or mesh, but sometimes it is more or less wanting. Characteristic of the new species are the two somewhat sickle-shaped, pale brown translucent markings on the 'lips' in which two to six dark dots are always enclosed. In cultivation the bodies swell up to 26 x 16 mm and their colour changes to a reddish white grey. I have named this striking species after my friend Dr. Julius Derenberg of Hamburg to whom I owe much valuable assistance, Mesembr. (Lithops) Julii Dint. et Schwant.'

On 5 July 1924, Professor Dinter reported further on L. Julii (Dint. et Schwant.) N.E. Br. as follows (Sukkulentenforschungen in Sudwestafrika, II, p. 74): 'Shortly after mid-day about 10 km west of Vahldorn we stopped at a quartzy place. Here we had most unexpectedly a great bit of luck. The misty rain on the hard ground had had a remarkable effect. When I was on my knees digging out a most interesting very tiny species of Albuca with spiral leaves, my wife came along and asked why I did not rather dig up the Mes. Julii which was growing not 10 cm from my little bulbs. It turned out that on the same half a square metre were six more L. Julii on one of which I was kneeling! So wonderfully is this plant concealed that it can only be seen by looking hard at it. And they were all taught specimens which were easy to find when one looked for them and nothing else. The multiplicity in the forms of the markings of this species is astounding. From the surface of the colour of india-rubber, completely without any markings to those with "moss-like" finely branched and beautifully translucent red brown markings on a reddish grey ground one finds in the same place all gradations, and here and there also an individual in which the netlike marking has as good as disappeared and is replaced by an evenly coloured brownish yellow "window". One can separate out five forms and present them to anyone and uninitiated in the ways of Lithops as five different species. But the species can always be recognised at once by the brown markings on the lips, though this may often be reduced to a short brown dash.'

Because of the very considerable variation in the markings on the plant bodies, as has already been mentioned, Dr. Tischer has distinguished several varieties: typica, pallida and reticulata. L. Julii typica is the form described above with the brownish dots or even lines at the edges of the cleft; in the form pallida the marking is entirely lacking and the form reticulata is distinguished by very prominent reticulate depressions.

From the plant sent to me by Professor Dinter and on account of the opinion expressed by Dinter, I have until now questioned the splitting up of this species into varieties. I must now add the following remarks of W. Triebner: 'According to my observations the three forms typica, pallida and reticulata are geographically separated and not found in mixed stands. Forma typica, as their original form, grows in the immediate vicinity of Warmbad; pallida, 30 miles to the north between Warmbad and Karasberg and reticulata near Auros, 25 miles west of Warmbad. The type form passes, by means of a few islands, to a Lithops which unfortunately has not yet been published, for which I have proposed the name Helmae, up to Pofadder, 40 miles south of the Orange River and there becomes confused with this species. In L. Fulleri all three forms of Julii - typica, pallida and reticulata - are combined and it will be the work of later systematists to separate them or, as is more probable, to put them all together. The one of this species scattered as islands and referred to as L. Helmae is pure grey in colour, without any other shade, but with the typical marking of L. Julii forma reticuata. Professor Dinter says in the description of his travels that he had found L. Julii at Warmbad as well as behind Auros. That shows that he considered the two forms to be one and the same. In my opinion Dr. Tischer's division is justified as is proved by the examples of forma pallida sent by me. There are many surprises in these most interesting plants.'

Among the specimens sent me by Herr Triebner there are several of the forma pallida which have quite distinct browinish dots or even brownish lines at the cleft. The colour is not so dark as in the plants that Tisher calls forma typica but is definitely present. It seems to me that the population, from which the specimens sent me by Triebner came, can hardly be regarded as a special race, but rather as a 'sport' of Julii. Whether the form reticulata is free from the criticism, as our distinguished observer, remains to be seen.

Top surface flat or slightly convex, reddish bluish ochre coloured, windowed with branched, broad, very transparent lines and grooves which are very conspicuous and often close together to form almost uniform windows just as in L. bella.

South West Africa. Garib in the Great Karas Mountains, found in April 1924 by Professor Dinter on quartz; named after Herr Leriche, a farmer.

This plant may be only a race of L. bella. Its flower seems to be rather larger and smells of almonds, whilst that of L. bella is scentless. Whether this difference and certain small variations in the colouring of the plant body in the two species is really characteristic, must be further investigated. Our two South African authorities, Herr E. Rusch and Herr W. Triebner, as well as a number of observant amateurs, consider the plant to be a good species.

Professor Dinter reports on the discovery of L. Lericheana in April 1924 in Sukkulentenforschung in Sudwestafrika, II, p. 68: 'According to the assurance of the Boers there had been plenty of rain recently in Garub and the pasture was good and green. This was a great relief to me for the oxen were quite exhausted and needed three full days rest to recover. It was already too late, besides the awful journey had tired us so much, too, for us to feel inclined that same evening to continue up the white quartz screes that stretched from the summit down to our camping ground.'

'The following morning Otto and I climbed, step by step, carefully searching the ground between the close white broken stones. Further up the bits of quartz were smaller and closer and freely mixed with fragments of red feldspar. After a few minutes i saw in the coarse granite, surrounded by loose white broken quartz, a reddish brown, twin-headed Mesembr. which by the dark dots in the marking even without flowers, I recognised as a species new to me. Otto, to whom I once showed it in situ, found after a short search a whole colony of eight plants in a square metre. Soon we found also a few flowering specimens. As far as I could remember the flower was indistinguishable from that of Mes. Julii, was also small and white, which was as a great relief to me, for, had it been yellow, the suspicion would have arisen that it might be connected with the true Mes. fulviceps from South Narudas (froom which place I had not known specimens previously) or a variety of the species. Our plant was usually two-, rarely three-headed, one only had five heads. We were lucky and by mid-day had collected 118 plants. In the afternoon we collected again, three of us this time, and got another 160 plants. And as we were lucky enough the following day to bring back 130 specimens, I could persuade myself that all my troubles and anxieties had received an adequate reward.'

'From the capsules carefully removed from the plants I washed out over 800 seeds. It was a very remarkable fact that, besides Mes. Lericheana as I called my find, we came on no shrubby species of Mes. in Garub, usually so common.'

Plant body small, quickly forming clumps by adventitious shoots 2-3 cm high with a deeply cut cleft. Top surface markedly convex, grey to clay coloured with a window the colour of milky glass or clearer and translucent, without markings or with a few bunched patches at the outer edge of the window. According to Ötztig, white leucoplasts occur in this species instead of chloroplasts, which cause the dull glossy colour of the centre of the end surface.

Locality: South West Africa, coastal desert between Lüderitz Bay and Buntfeldschuh, discovered by Professor Marloth. Herr Triebner has told me the following: 'Grows on quartz hills and flat quartz screes up to 10 miles north and 50 miles south of Lüderitz Bay. Close to the sea shore, in one zone, which daily gets mist or misty rain. Goes no further inland than 2-3 miles and is very variable. I have established three different forms which, however, do not show such distinct characteristics that they can be regarded as "species". The var. rubra grows in company with the type, not in pure stands and only 5-30 miles south of Lüderitz Bay on the borders and inside the Prohibited Area No. 1. "Rare, always to be found with L. optica at the edge of and protected by bushes of Zygophyllum." Previously the typical form is present in thousands (always found in assosciation with Conophytum saxetanum and Crassula angraboide). The description of L. optica is based on the plants of the type which occur in the hills round Lüderitz. The plants of the variety come, on the contrary (collected by myself and my son) from 15 miles south of Lüderitz in quartz scree and are found there in thousands. They are generally no larger than a pea and swell up only in cultivation. The form of the lobes and the colouring is quite distinct from the type. So long as the prohibition of the area is firmly maintained extermination need not be feared. Further to the south L. optica typica is merged into L. Herrei.' According to Professor Dinter (Sukkulentenforschung in Sudwestafrika, Part I, p. 42) L. optica grows on hills strewn with quartz and after rain could easily be found but never in great quantity. Herr Stoeber told me that the plant occurs in depressions in the granite hills which are filled with fine sand. He also says that it is not plentiful and fears extermination.

The clumps to judge by the number of skins, are often very old. Professor Dinter wrote to me that he had once counted the dry sheaths of such a cushion; fifty to seventy-five were present on each little body; of the seven bodies formerly present, four were still alive. 'They were only as large as peas and grew well even without any nourishment from the soil, merely a tiny amount of moisture.' Recently Dr. K. Stopp of Mainz examined one of the age-old clumps of this species, (Uber das Lebensalter einiger Mesembryanthemaceen [On the length of Life of certain Mesembryanthemaceae], Yearbook of the Swiss Cactus Society, V, p. 46 et seq.) 'The specimens shown in the illustration shows distinctly the remains of old leaves, Actually it is only the bases of the leaves that remain. The upper parts do not as a rule persist for more than five years and then break off irregularly. In the illustration can still be seen below the living leaves the shrivelled tips of those of the previous year. The remaining united leaf bases are at first bowl-shaped but split open when the distal end has withered, and spread out. With increasing age they become more and more fragile. As well as the basal part of the leaves the lower parts of the fruit stalks are retained for years, so that they provide control as to how freely the individual growths bear flowers. The following table shows from 1929 onwards in which year one of the growths under examination flowered. It is noteworthy that the flowering years do not always correspond with summers known to have been relatively wet.

1951	1945	1939 F	1933
1950 F	1944 F	1938	1932 F
1949 F	1943	1937 F	1931
1948 F	1942 F	1936	1930
1947	1941	1935	1929 F
1946	1940	1934

'In the years marked F the plant body in question fruited. Altogether in the specimen of L. optica that was examined, eighty-two consecutive leaf pairs were counted. The oldest did not represent the cotyledons for the axis of growth continued for another 1.75 cm. The length of the leafless basal part of the growth must have lost some twelve to twenty leaf pairs. This gives for the plant in question an age of about 95 years. The great age is all the more surprising when one thinks of the smallness of the plant; its height was only 4.5 cm, the diameter of the thickest growth only 3.5 mm! This specimen was several decades old when the species was discovered by Marloth!... A larger number of living plants of the same species were also counted in their habitat. In young age-groups the absolute age could be determined since the remains of the cotyledons could be found at the base of the growth. It was thus shown that a very high percentage of the individuals in a population were of the same age. It can be presumed that these facts can be traced back to the different amounts of rain in different years,'

This species grows in cultivation very quickly from seed to flowering plants and branches early and freely. Unfortunately seedlings which grow too exuberantly at first often die off in quantity after a short time; probably we do not give them water at the right moment. The comparitively small flowers first appear with us towards the end of November and, for lack of sun, do not always develop. The dark red form, L. optica f. rubra Tisch., is wonderful and is probably a colour mutation from the species.

'Grows about an inch high and the same in breadth, 8-9 lines thick, obconic, flat (not at all convex) on the top, with the transverse fissure 2-3 lines deep; surface glabrous, violaceus grey on the sides and dove-grey with a faint rosy tint on the top, where it is marked with distincly impressed chocolate-coloured markings forming an irregular pattern. Flowers unknown.

Locality unknown, but possibly Great Namaqualand.

This is a very distinct species, allied to L. bella N.E. Br., but distinguished from that and all others known to me by its flat top and pretty dove-grey colour. I have no knowledge of its origin.'

The above is the complete description of this plant by Dr. N. E. Brown in the Journal of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Great Britain, June 1934, Vol II. No. 4, p. 70. I am indebted to Mrs. Vera Higgins for bringing this description to my notice. It was named after Miss Edith Brown, the daughter of Dr. N. E. Brown. I have never seen the species.

From the above description of the species by Dr. N. E. Brown it appears that L. Edithae was most likely to be in close relationship with L. bella. One would therefore expect a species with white flowers and a very deep groove on the upper surface. There are plants in Europe now, distributed under the name L. Edithae N.E. Br., which are very different from L. bella, having yellow flowers and plant bodies that are quite different in appearance. These plants were discovered by Herr. W. Triebner. He wrote to me about them as follows: 'It must have been 1935 or 1936 that I found on Rietfontein Farm, 60 miles east of Windhoek, in a small patch of broken quartz below the great massif of the "Hohen Scheins", a small Lithops that I sent to Dr. N. E. Brown. He replied after several months that it seemed to be L. Edithae N.E. Br. I corresponded with Dr. Brown about it several times and have entered this Lithops since then in my price list under that name. Whether this identification of Brown's is correct or not, I do not know for I was not familiar with the original plant nor its locality. During the war all my foreign correspondence was confiscated and after the war it was destroyed. Today, therefore, I have none of my earlier correspondence up to 1939. I have never seen the original description either and first heard of it through your letter. I would propose that this name be set aside and a new description published. When Brown wrote his description, hardly any Lithops were known from the central and northern parts of the country except L. pseudotruncatella and L. Ruschiorum and so he must have come to the conclusion that this species came from the south, that is Namaqualand. Added to this, the English in the descriptions, always include under "Great Namaqualand" not only this area but also Bastardland, Damaraland and Griqualand and since Damaraland at least extends as far as Waterberg, this is an enormous area. I have also been able to clarify in the publication on Aloes by Reynolds an equally contentious question about Aloe asperifolia where the original description said "along the Kuiseb, Little Namaqualand". But the Kuiseb rises here in the heart of South West Africa, in northern Bastardland, flows first towards the south, then towards the south west (formerly direct into Walvis Bay) from Walvis Bay into the sea and touches for only a few miles the area of the "Topnaar Hottentots, which formerly was called "Little Namaqualand". The real Little Namaqualand lies south of the Orange River and includes the succulent paradise of the Richtersveld.'

We have arrived at the position that the plant found by Herr Triebner and recognised as L. Edithae by N. E. Brown, cannot be made to agree with the description of this species on account of the reference to L. bella; for the markings on Triebner's plant are quite different. This shows grooves often several millimetres wide, proportionally deep and little branched, whilst Triebner's plant has numerous dendritic markings, which are branched, and dots, such as are never seen in L. bella but, on the contrary, are reminiscent of L. pseudotruncatella. 'Distinctly impressed chocolate-coloured markings' are never found on the plant which I received from Herr Triebner and such as I have seen elsewhere. The surface of my plant is light grey, the markings not very striking. The flowers are yellow but these were unknown to Dr. Brown.

In spite of this I have asked Herr Triebner not to re-name the plant that he discovered. The necessity for this would only arise, in my opinion, if anywhere specimens of Dr. Brown's type pant have been preserved which in any case is very improbable. Thus we are hardly yet in a position of deciding the present question definitely and must accept the judgemment of the author that he recognised the species found by Herr Triebner as L. Edithae.

Lithops Species - Dr. Schwantes (1957)

Sub-genus Xantholithops Schwant.

Sub-genus Leucolithops Schwant.

Species with Unknown Position