Bilious corner

[iann]

I seem to have a lot of mutant green Lithops on the go at the moment. Not my favourite colour, but some are nicer than others.

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[iann]

And of course non-mutant green Lithops. I do like L. viridis

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[KittieKAT]

Green is my favorite color so i like them ALL

[HarryUpNorth]

Iann, correct me if I'm wrong.

I seem to recall reading that in habitat lithops tend to take on the same color as the rock they are growing on. It acts as a camouflage I suppose to protect them from whatever it is they need protection from.

Can you or anyone else discuss this, I think it's very interesting and I'm trying to think of other plants that might do this chameleon act. Also, would the same species change color to match whatever surface color they happen to find themselves growing?

Thanks much, Harry

[KittieKAT]

I'm assuming that's why their are soooo many plant's that are different colors some that take on the habitat that grows around them to go unscathed, but sometimes i think mother nature likes to laugh and made these little plants to watch us tip toe over them in nature and think heeheehee if only they new their was an awesome lithop just two inches from their foot!

[iann]

Lithops often have similar colours to the rocks they grow on, but that is something that occurs over many generations as the ones with the wrong colours get eaten. You can't grow grey Lithops on brown rocks and have the seedlings come up brown. There are other cryptic plant species, Titanopsis for example, but none with quite the character of Lithops. Seeing how they have the right sort of patterns and flecks of colour to break up the outline of the plant and merge with the rocks they grown in is quite amazing.

[BRC]

Great plants Iann, as usual!

Personally green Lithops are among my favorites, something about the way the stand out in a pot!

[cjbaker]

Striking! Sometimes a natural look is nice, but fluorescent alien colors can also be enjoyable. I suppose that in nature, these would either die from sunburn, or be spotted in short order by predators? I know that birds love pecking my lithops, if I let them.

[iann]

Striking! Sometimes a natural look is nice, but fluorescent alien colors can also be enjoyable. I suppose that in nature, these would either die from sunburn, or be spotted in short order by predators? I know that birds love pecking my lithops, if I let them.

They've been found occasionally in the wild and presumably they occur randomly at least as often as they do in cultivation. Quite what kills them I'm not sure. They don't seem to be especially fragile despite the lack of pigments, so presumably it is lack of camouflage that kills them.

[HarryUpNorth]

I'm trying to figure this out. Can a given species have different coloration depending upon what surface it is growing on?

[iann]

I'm trying to figure this out. Can a given species have different coloration depending upon what surface it is growing on?

The same species can have dramatically different colouring in different populations. Sometimes these get variety or subspecies names, sometimes not. Transplant a Lithops from one population to another and it will stick out like a sore thumb. Sow seeds from one population on the rocks of another and they won't match. Well maybe one or two will, and probably those will be the only ones left after 5 years

[HarryUpNorth]

Thanks Iann for helping to sort that out for me. Like Onzuka said on another thread, you've helped spike my interest in giving Lithops a try.
Best to you, Harry

[KittieKAT]

Oooh no harryupnorth, you're gonna become another lithop addict! Lol

The lithops is nature have had many many years to blend into where they are and come from, that's why Like Ian said if u take seeds from another lithop grown near Gray rocks instead of brown where it usually grows many of them may not survive.

[Onzuka]

Thanks Iann for helping to sort that out for me. Like Onzuka said on another thread, you've helped spike my interest in giving Lithops a try.
Best to you, Harry

Yes, go for it, Harry, just like I'm going to do! However, its hard to imagine a more hostile place to grow them than Alaska.

Steve

[KittieKAT]

Ooh onzuka and Harry that's so funny you better clear a lot of space for those millions of lithops y'all are gonna start getting and growing heehe!