Lithops crossing?

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Julie
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Lithops crossing?

Post by Julie »

Hmm... just curious...

Do Lithops cross well with other Lithops, are the seeds / seedlings as strong as plain purebred Lithops?

Would Lithops cross with other plants with similar-looking flowers, such as Pleiospilos?

Has anyone tried this?
Happy carrier of Forby Disorder - an obsession with Euphorbia obesa.

NB. Anyone failing to provide a sensible name for me to address them will be called, or referred to, as Fred.
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iann
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by iann »

Yes, its all been done. Well, maybe not all, over a thousand mesemb species gives an awful lot of possible crosses!

Many different Lithops species can be crossed, typically species with the same flower colour will cross, those with different colours do not, or not easily. You won't find many in cultivation, partly because desirable cultivars have arisen within nearly every species and the hybrids have not proved so interesting.

Outside the genus, Lithops have been crossed with probably their closest relatives Dinteranthus and the results are about what you would expect. Crosses have also been achieved with Conophytums but do not produce healthy offspring. One exception is the presumed Lithops Conophytum hybrid now known as L. steineckeana. It is likely that crosses with some other spheroid genera are possible. At least one cross with Argyroderma is known.

Although Lithops and most other spheroid mesembs are self-infertile, they do have a tendency to self-pollinate if you keep pestering them with foreign pollen. This has led to a lot of "hybrids" that turned out just to be selfed.
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CactusChris
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by CactusChris »

Hi Julie,
Look here for interesting crosses - all available as seed:

http://users.skynet.be/fhoes/rsasucculents/

Best regards

Chris
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Tom J
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by Tom J »

Hi Ian,

Completely agree.
It is one of the proves that mesembs devellop very recently and that the barriers normally present between species are not there yet, even not between certain genus, like you mention lithops x dinteranthus, mitrophyllum x jacobseniana, ...
I think most experiments were done by Steven (Hammer) between the conophytums.
In his book, there's a chapter dedicated to the best successes, but most of the time, they're not as interesting as the original stuff nature invented.

Tom
Growing Mesembs, a way of life...
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Phil_SK
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by Phil_SK »

I think it's a bit naughty selling "hybrid seed". Following on from what Ian said, a fair number of these might just be selfed. Arguably not much better is selling seed produced from hybrid plants, which will probably not look much like the selected parent.
Anybody raising hybrids will tell you that you discard thousands of nondescript plants before finding one that's really worth keeping. However, when we cross quite dissimilar plants we tend to lower our expectations and cherish plants just for their strangeness.
Phil Crewe, BCSS 38143. Mostly S. American cacti, esp. Lobivia, Sulcorebutia and little Opuntia
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iann
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by iann »

I may be biased since I've bought hybrid seed from Francois before. He has grown from most of the hybrid seed himself and displays the results. Some of it is F2 seed from interesting crosses already made. Or F2s from "failed" cultivar seed, the offspring that didn't come true. Others are deliberate out-crosses of cultivars with the normal plant, handy seed to have if you want to produce your own strain of that cultivar. I have confidence that the majority is not selfed but you do run that risk. At about a penny a seed I've been very happy.

I have more concern about a number of places that sell hybrid seed, but more usually cultivar seed, without due care or without accurate descriptions of what you are getting. Some very expensive cultivar seed will give you no plants of that cultivar, either due to poor cultivar stability or the seed actually being out-crossed with a normal plant.
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Julie
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Re: Lithops crossing?

Post by Julie »

Thanks, all. What a wasp's nest! So I might just stick to enjoying the flowers, should I have any. ;)

A conolithops? Sounds interesting, but it looks quite plain. I guess the novelty is attractive, though.
Happy carrier of Forby Disorder - an obsession with Euphorbia obesa.

NB. Anyone failing to provide a sensible name for me to address them will be called, or referred to, as Fred.
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