All out of sync

[iann]

This Lithops optica appears to be the last flower for this season. The bud has been hanging around for ages, but just not enough sun to open it.

[iann]

These are all in sync, doing exactly what they should.

Unknown (originally described as L. helmutii)

L. otzeniana (thanks Tony, all straight now)

[Astro]

That helmutii is the spitting image of one of my L. herrei (ex C355), maybe just a tad greener but that's hard to judge on a screen. There may be differences in flower size that make it easier to distinguish them.

L. herrei ex C355

[iann]

The L. helmutii is a cutting from a very old plant. It did come to me unlabelled, could it actually have been L. herrei in disguise for the last 10 years? Here is the original before it was chopped, showing the bicuneate profile and reasonably large flowers that made me call it L. helmutii. L. herrei is more compact, less green, less shiny, and generally smaller including the flowers.

helmutii10.jpg (84 KiB) Viewed 1151 times

[iann]

So this is truly all out of sync! The "L. helmutii", possibly labelled L. otzeniana on your screen, is not the plant I have labelled as L. helmutii and shown in the latest photos. It is a different plant, which also came to me unlabelled. It is quite a challenge and is still unlabelled today. It might be L. herrei which is highly variable. Here are the two side by side in rather poor light today:

Here it is in different conditions next to L. naureeniae:

And here shortly after I first got it. Hard to believe, but it really is the same plant. Now you know why I haven't put a name to it.

notbromfieldii2.jpg (42.55 KiB) Viewed 1133 times

Lastly next to one type of L. herrei:

[iann]

This Lithops amicorum can go in the out of sync gallery. It either stacked really badly last year or produced two new leaf pairs. Either seems possible, I think it is a recent transplant from a pot of seedlings. This species is small but enthusiastic and can quickly get out of hand with too much water or too little light.