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Lithops comptonii

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lithops comptonii
Lithops comptonii in cultivation
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Aizoaceae
Genus: Lithops
Species:
L. comptonii
Binomial name
Lithops comptonii
Synonyms

Lithops weberi Nel

Lithops comptonii is a species of plant in the family Aizoaceae, indigenous to South Africa.

Distribution

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Lithops comptonii is naturally found in the far southwest of South Africa, in an arid inland region of the Western Cape Province. The furthest southwest of any Lithops species, this range includes the Karoo areas north east of the town of Ceres. This dry area is subject to a winter-rainfall climate.[1][2]

Cultivation

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It is sometimes used as a houseplant or for landscaping. 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.

Of the Lithops species, L. comptonii is one of the few which is adapted to a predominantly winter-rainfall climate (together with Lithops viridis, Lithops divergens, Lithops meyeri and Lithops helmutii).[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Threatened Species Programme | SANBI Red List of South African Plants".
  2. ^ "Floweringstones.co.za".[dead link]