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 Nearly white body and top with few pale grey markings, stonelike. Flowers yellow.
 

Description: Lithops pseudotruncatella is a very free- growing species, forming clumps. It was one of first plant of this genus discovered and for a long time one of the first representative in European collections. Generally this Lithops is characterized by greyish colour with darker ramosely branched marbling on the upper surfaces, but it is also a very variable taxon in which a number of variety and forms has been described. The status of these is uncertain. The body is medium to very large, solitary or variously branched with  more of 20 heads. Facial diameters  25-50 X 20-35 mm and up to 4 cm tall. 
Flowers: Yellow (occasionally white), medium to very large, up to 50 mm Ø, mostly 25-40 mm Ø.

Lithops pseudotruncatella comprises several more or less intergrading and distinct variety:

• ssp. pseudotruncatella  (N.E. Brown) N.E. Brown 1908. Cole numbers: C067, C070, C263, C315 “alpina”, C068, C381 “mundtii”, C099, C100 “clear form”.
  It is a medium to very large sized elliptical plant about 40 X 30 mm wide, the body is flat to slightly convex with a shallow fissure,and  lobes conjunct. It branches easily and forms clumps with up to 20 (or more) heads, but usually less. It is somewhat variable in colour, usually opaque, smooth to very slightly rugose, uniform pale grey or beige tinted with variously shaded. Face, margins and shoulders  dull grey.  Windows and margins usually not clearly distinguishable, In the upper surface there a broken network of irregularly and extensively branched tree-like rubrications that sometimes are reduced to a scattering of short lines, dashes and dots; the ends often finely ramose and tapering off into the outer margins.
• ssp. pseudotruncatella var. elisabethiae (Dinter) De Boer & Boom 1933 Cole numbers: C187
  It is quite similar to the standard variety but whit a peculiar bluish-pink colour.
• ssp. pseudotruncatella  var. riehmerae D.T. Cole 1987 “edithiae” (var. edithae (N.E.Brown) De Boer) Cole numbers: C097
  Not very different from the standard variety, it differs mainly in its generally smaller size. The head colour is pale grey colour with less extensive markings.
• ssp. archerae (De Boer) Cole 1967 (L. archeri De Boer) Cole numbers: C104, C306
  This subspecies is easily recognized for its  truncate profile and round-elliptic face, the uniform milky grey-green colour is also very characteristic of this plant.
• ssp. dendritica (Nel) De Boer & Boom 1946(L. dendritica Nel. L. farinosa Dinter.) Cole numbers: C072, C073, C357, C384, “farinosa” C245, “pulmonuncula”C071(var. pulmuncola (Jacobsen) Jacobsen)
  This form is distinguishable for the more regularly branched channels and rubrications that forms an almost a honeycomb pattern. The face has usually a reddish colour.
• ssp. groendrayensis (Jacobs.) D.T. Cole 1961. Cole numbers: C239, C244 “Witkop form”, C246 Almost uniform pale grey-white in colour with minutely pin-pricked or wrinkled top surface.
• ssp. volkii (Schwant. ex H.W. de Boer & B.K. Boom) D.T. Cole 1961 Cole numbers: C069
  The face of this form is pale bluish-white  with  very few rubrications and few or no dusky dots.a

Cultivars:

• ssp. pseudotruncatella  cv. Albiflora “White flowering-form”. Cole numbers: C264
  This cultivar has white flowers instead of yellow, but the plant is identifiable only when in flower.
• ssp. Archerae cv. 'Split Pea' 1999 Green form.

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Origin: Namibia
 

Each year two leaves are produced at right angles to the old pair of leaves. The growth period ends when the yellow blossoms come out of the cleft.

In  the winter season the plant doesn’t need watering, but they will still be growing, the new bodies will be increasing in size as the old outer leaves begin to shrivel. In fact the plant in this time extracts water and nutrient stored in the outer succulent leaves, allowing them to dehydrate relocating the water  to the rest of the plant and to the new leaves that form during this period until the old leaves are reduced to nothing more than "thin papery shells".
 

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Lithops pseudotruncatella.

• L. pseudotruncatella ssp. pseudotruncatella v. pseudotruncatella C67
• L. pseudotruncatella ssp. dendritica v. farinosa C245
• L. pseudotruncatella ssp. groendariensis C244
• L. pseudotruncatella ssp. volkii C69

   

  

  

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Encyclopaedia of Succulents. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.