Lithops optica 10 km S Bakers Bay
Beautiful form

These plants so closely resemble the surrounding pebbles of their natural habitat, either in coloration or shape or both. This camouflage allows them to escape detection and is a very effective strategy for escaping predation.

Description:  Consists of an oblong obconical almost club-shaped leaf pair up to 20 mm long. The leaf pairs are often unequal, rounded-truncate at their tops and up to 15 x 12 mm in diameter with a smooth texture, deeply fissured and whitish grey to grey green in colour. The bodies become wrinkled during the dry summers. They divide with age forming small clusters of up to 10 bodies. It is possible to estimate the age of a Lithops optica colony by counting the dried-up shells of old bodies, and specimens have been found with ages estimated at 50 to 95 years or more. The flowers are white, sometimes with pink tips, 12-20 mm in diameter and appear during autumn.

Family: Mesebrianthemaceae (Aizoaceae)

Habitat: Lithops optica is endemic to the Lüderitz district of the southern Namib Desert where it grows on the coastal plains. Its habitat is very sandy and it is often found growing among rocks and gravel where it is very difficult to spot. Its climate is cool due to the cold Atlantic Ocean and frequent fog, and rainfall is mainly during the winter, ranging between 20-50 mm per annum.