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Lithops salicola, a small succulent known as a living stone, looks like a grey pebble and grows in pairs of fused leaves. The key to growing it is very well-drained soil and careful, sparing watering that follows its annual growth cycle.
Lithops salicola is a species of perennial plant in the family Aizoaceae, often called living stones, because of its resemblance to round grey pebbles.
L. salicola is commonly used as a houseplant or for landscaping. Like all Lithops species, it requires extremely well-drained soil. 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 plants should be kept dry from when they finish flowering, up until the old leaf-pairs are fully replaced.
Of the Lithops species, L. salicola is one of the species which is most tolerant of occasional incorrect watering, and therefore among the easiest to cultivate (together with L. lesliei, L. hookeri and L. aucampiae).
This species can be found in the Cape Provinces and Free State of South Africa at an elevation of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to 1,350 metres (4,430 ft). It is generally found in well-drained soil or in rock crevices. It occurs in an area of summer rainfall.
Lithops karasmontana · Lithops lesliei · Lithops olivacea · Lithops optica · Lithops pseudotruncatella · Living Stones
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lithops salicola 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.
