Lots of 3 lobed Lithops lesliei

[KathyM]

I planted some Lithops lesliei seeds collected from one of my plants and about 10 of them have 3 lobes instead of 2, about a third of the seedlings. I thought it was the kind of thing that would happen to the odd one, is there a reason there are so many with 3 leaves?

Lithops lesliei seedlings, many with 3 lobes

[rodsmith]

I've had a very occasional 3 lobed lithops seedling but it is a very rare event for me. Could be something in the genes of one of the parents of your crop. They will probably revert to normal when leaves are replaced.

[iann]

Not so rare, but 10 in one pot is unusual. Maybe they are inbred? Maybe you fed them just right. Or just wrong! On adult plants it can be a sign of some stress that the plant couldn't divide properly, or even that it lost half a head. On adults or seedlings, it very rarely lasts for more than a year. Good news is they'll do just fine.

[KathyM]

I only planted about 30 seeds from the capsule and saved the rest, maybe I should plant some more and see how many I end up with.

I had neglected my plants for several years and then started making more of an effort again at the start of 2017, so the parent plant could still have been stressed when it flowered that year.