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.

 Distinctive plant with very flat grey top and dark lines.
(Photographed a month after flowering with developing unripe green fruits)
 

Cultivation: Need an open mineral, fast draining mix and the maximum amount of light you are able to give them. The basic cultivation routine is: Stop watering after flowering. Start watering after the old leaves completely dry. (Usually late March or Early April) Water freely during the growing season, soak the compost fully but allow it to dry out between waterings. Some growers fertilize frequently, some hardly ever. Keep them dry during the winter. Nearly all problems occur as a result of overwatering and poor ventilation especially when weather conditions are dull and cool or very humid.
 

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 shwantesii

• Lithops schwantesii subsp. schwantesii var. urikosensis C210
• Lithops schwantesii subsp. schwantesii var. urikosensis C075
• Lithops schwantesii subsp. schwantesii var. guliemii C184
• Lithops schwantesii subsp. schwantesii var. triebneri (Tiras)

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Origin: Namibia

Etymology: The species name 'schwantesii' comes from Gustav Schwantes  (1881-1960), German professor of prehistory at Kiel University, and Mesemb specialist. (Aizoaceae)

Flowers are yellow.
 

Buds.

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.