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Lithops lesliei is a small, stone-mimicking succulent from southern Africa, grown as a houseplant or in dry landscaping. The key to growing it is very well-drained soil, sparing water, and keeping it dry while it replaces its leaf pairs each year.
Lithops lesliei is a species of plant in the family Aizoaceae. The plant is collected for its medicinal properties, and has therefore become threatened.
It is commonly 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.
This species can be found in the summer-rainfall areas of South Africa although it is not endemic. The plants have recently seen a 15% cut in numbers with predictions that this trend will continue. The plants are being taken to sell in markets for medicinal reasons. The plant continues to be seen in many places but a loss of habitat and predation in urban areas places this as a threatened species in South Africa.
Lithops karasmontana · Lithops olivacea · Lithops optica · Lithops pseudotruncatella · Lithops salicola · Living Stones
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lithops lesliei by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
