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  Lapidaria margaretae
(Syn: Argyroderma margaretae)
CACTUS ART
NURSERY

Cultivation and Mail Sale
of Cacti and Succulents.


This is a very beautiful plant  and a real joy to see in any collection.
 


Plant in winter with unripe fruits.
 


Flowers in late afternoon

Cultivation: This plants are relatively easy to cultivate in a an open, gritty and well drained soil, but have the tendency to up and die if the conditions are not right and, sometimes it seems, even if they are! They need full bright sunlight throughout the year. They will grow strongly at any time when the weather is warm and sunny and water is available and are considered opportunistic growers. They will become dormant in very hot weather, particularly when nights stay very warm in the hottest couple of months of summer, and should hardly be watered at this time. Probably best to shade them during the hottest weather, they will be dormant anyway. They will grow strongly in autumn and also may grow in spring. They probably won't show much growth in winter but might if they are in a very sunny position perhaps indoors. Water during the growing season about once every one-two weeks (depending on the humidity of the air) like a cactus and then leave it to drain well and to dry out completely before watering again. If in doubt, don't water, you are very unlikely to kill it from underwatering. Anyway do not over-water as they are very greedy drinkers and split within a day or so if given too much water Although the split of course disfigures the plant, this is not a major disaster as the following season, when the old body has shrivelled, the new one appears clean and unblemished. Be cautious about watering in winter because you may produce etiolated growth from lack of sun. At growth resumption when the new buds appear (after the old basal pair of leaves is totally shrivelled) a little water is given but not too much. Frost Tolerance -4 ° C for short periods.
 


Flowers are large yellow in autumn.

NOTE: Lapidaria is a monotypic genus used nowadays to be included in Aryroderma for the hard greyish leaves, but Lapidaria differs to the other argyrodermas clearly for the erect ring of stamens.


 


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Family: Aizoaceae (Mesebrianthemaceae)
 

Scientific name:  Lapidaria margaretae (Schwantes) Dinter  & Schwantes ex N.E.Br.
Cult. Orn. Succ. Herb.1928

Common English Names include:  Karoo Rose

Origin:  Southern Namibia and Northern Cape (South Africa). Known from between 5 and 15 sub-populations and locations.

Habitat: Grows sunken (and almost invisible) on white quartz plains or in crevices or red sand or on loose stone. Usually in Northeast-facing gentle hill slope in full Sun or under dwarf shrub in a succulent steppe. Rainfalls approx 250 mm x year. With a wide range of other dwarf succulents like Lithops sp. and Anacampseros quinaria; approximately 700-110m.
 

Synonyms:

  • Mesebrianthemum margaretae Schwantes 1920
  • Argyroderma margaretae  (Schwantes) N.E.Br. 1926
  • Dinteranthus margaretae  (Schwantes) Schwantes 1926
  • Argyroderma roeatum N.E.Br. 1922A

Description: Compact stemless succulent with at least 2-3 pairs of stone shaped leaves (more in cultivation), with 1 to 3 branches (rarely forms clumps)
Leaves: Rounded-triangular, as thick as wide, keel and margins hard and prominent, usually greys white or pinkish at the base with rest of leaf paler. the internodes are short with the subsequent leaves touching and supporting one another at their bases resulting in compact heads.
Flowers: Solitary 5cm wide  in the autumn, with up to 100 golden yellow petals later white at base, 300-500 stamens mainly erect in the centre.
 

 



These plants tend to resemble, both in shape and colour, the stones and pebbles of the rocky deserts of their natural homes.
Leaves are Smooth, sculptured, pinkish-grey.



Lapidaria grows a lot like Lithops but with 2-4 leaves pairs with new leaves emerging at right angles to old. It is believed to be a kind of ancestral Lithops, or at least a more primitive descendant of an ancestral Lithops.

Photo gallery: Alphabetical listing of Cactus and Succulent pictures published in this site.

Photo gallery LAPIDARIA

Home | E-mail | Plant files | Mail Sale Catalogue | Links | Information | Search

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.