Lithops living stones
(This plant comes in a 3.5" pot. You will receive a very similar plant to the one in the picture. It may or may not be blooming at the time of your purchase. The plant is shipped in its pot to prevent any damage to the roots).
Native to Africa. The name means stone face, referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants. They avoid being eaten by blending in with surrounding rocks and are often known as pebble plants or living stones.
Individual Lithops plants consist of one or more pairs of bulbous, almost fused leaves opposite to each other and hardly any stem. The slit between the leaves contains the meristem and produces flowers ;and new leaves. The leaves are mostly buried below the surface of the soil, with a partially or completely translucent top surface known as leaf window which allows light to enter the interior of the leaves for photosynthesis
During winter a new leaf pair, or occasionally more than one, grows inside the existing fused leaf pair. In spring the old leaf pair parts to reveal the new leaves and the old leaves will then dry up.
Lithops will be most active and need most water during autumn and each species will flower at approximately the same time.
Lithops thrive best in a coarse, well-drained substrate. Any soil that retains too much water will cause the plants to burst their skins as they over-expand. Plants grown in strong light will develop hard strongly colored skins which are resistant to damage and rot, although persistent over watering will still be fatal.
Some of the information in this description has been found at desert-tropicals.com, llifle.com and cactus-art.biz
