Lithops Cole numbers

Corlitho · Post by **Corlitho** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:16 pm

Hello,

I've received different species of lithops. Some have Cole-numbers some don't have them. For example I have L. schwantesii ssp. schwantesii v. marthae C148 (with cole number) and the same specie without the number. Why is that?

phil_SK · Post by **phil_SK** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:22 pm

Plants with C numbers are propagated from seed collected by Desmond Cole from the areas the plants grow in. Of course, there are other Lithops plants in cultivation whose origin cannot be traced back to a collection from the wild. These will not have field numbers.

Corlitho · Post by **Corlitho** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:25 pm

Thank you for your quick response!

iann · Post by **iann** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:01 am

Unlike regular field collection numbers, the Cole numbers are still applied to plants propagated for many many generations. Original Cole collected plants, or plants from original Cole seed are very rare, except for a few recently discovered locations up around C400. The Cole numbers at one time listed all known Lithops populations, although some of the more widespread species have also been collected from other nearby areas.