''Lithops optica'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae (), or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1,800 species. Several genera are commonly known as 'ice plants' or 'carpet weeds'. The Aizoaceae are also referred to a ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

Name and description

The name "optica" means "eye-like" and refers to the rounded windows at the top of the leaves. In habitat, these two leaves emerge just above the surface of the ground. The well-known and widely cultivated "rubra" variety is a bright purple/red colour. While most specimens of Lithops optica do not have this colour, the "rubra" variety is by far the most commonly cultivated.

Distribution

This species occurs in the coastal areas around Lüderitz,

. This is a very arid "mist-belt" area, with winter rainfall but extremely dry conditions. It is therefore one of the few species of ''

Lithops ''Lithops'' is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern Africa. They avoid being eaten by herbivores with their camouflage as small stones, and are often known as pebble plants ...

'' which is adapted to a winter rainfall climate. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

is sandy soil in rocky areas. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Cultivation

Like all ''Lithops'', it requires extremely well-drained soil. Like all ''Lithops'' it also grows in annual cycles, as the leaf-pairs flower, and then each produces a new leaf-pair that replaces the old one (which shrivels away). The principal rule of watering is that ''Lithops'' should be kept dry from when they finish flowering, up until the old leaf-pairs are fully replaced.

References

optica Endemic flora of Namibia Near threatened plants Near threatened biota of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by N. E. Brown Taxa named by Rudolf Marloth {{Aizoaceae-stub