Lithops otzeniana

Lithops otzeniana usually forms small clumps of up to five deep-fissured leaf-pairs, occasionally up to five times as many. The plant may grow 3 cm tall.

The slightly convex leaf-tops of each stubby pair are shaped like half-moons, ringed with raised, variously shaped islands along the insides of the window margins. The lateral leaf skins and the opaque islands are pinkish grey but may also be soft cream, green or blue. The translucent leaf-top windows are markedly darker, mainly in shades of dull green.

The flowers are yellow, their centres white. The stamens cohere in a central cone, although there are no staminodes in Lithops. The filaments are white and the anthers yellow. Flowering happens early in autumn; the flowers open in the afternoon. The fruit capsules are usually five-loculed.

The species distribution is restricted to a small area north of Loeriesfontein in the Northern Cape. The photo was taken in the greenhouse of the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden during February.

The plants grow in the Hantam Karoo habitat type, in the open or under shrubs in gravelly soils derived from granite or gneiss. The species is considered to be vulnerable in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to range restriction, grazing and trampling by stock, as well as plant collection (Frandsen, 2017; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; http://llifle.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).