Lithops hookeri var. marginata doubtful pairs

This Lithops hookeri plant cared for at the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden was still labelled var. marginata at the time of the photo.

The about flat-topped, paired leaves have many islands resembling intestines among the windows that let the sun in for photosynthesis. This food manufacturing happens in cells on the inside walls of the top-shaped leaf bodies. Creative people have a hard time matching nature in weirdness, when mere originality isn’t enough.

These leaf-pairs usually produce their flowers from the slit in each pair. Positioning of the frazzled remains of the last flowers grown by the plants in picture raise questions as to where the next flowers may appear and what constitutes a pair in deviant liaisons.

The variable L. hookeri plants that may according to Frandsen be found in the area between Kimberley, Marydale and Britstown, part of the Bo-Karoo or Upper Karoo, are still divided by some into up to seven varieties. Theyre all up there today, where plant and people populations are sparse under harsh conditions, but more closely related in their desolate home region than some interested parties would like them to be (Frandsen, 2017; http://redlist.sanbi.org).