Lithops - Au Cactus Francophone

parte infima per 1.5 mm. papillata, ad 7 mm. longa, antheris luteis; discus
conspicuus crenu latus, basi fossis 6, lobos ovarii termimantibus, praeditus;
ovarium circa marginem concavum, medium versus leviter elevatum vel ibi
in flore altero altitudinem disci excedeus; stigmata in floribus ambolus 6, 8,
vel 1.1 cm. longa.
150
South West Africa: Namib.
44. LITHOPS TURBINIFORMIS
✱Lithops turbiniformis. (Plates 38, 38a, Fig. 104.) Growths solitary or 2 4
in a clump up to about 1 in. high, 13 in. broad, and 1 in. thick, flat at the
top, which is either distinctly tuberculate or marked with a sort of network
of slight furrows varying from light rusty ochreous to a dark ironstone col
our with the furrows of a darker tint, not spotted. Calyx unequally 8 lobed,
stout, compressed; lobes 8–10 mm. long, 4–5 mm. broad, oblong or ovate ob
long, obtuse, green with reddish tips. Corolla about 1 1 – 4 in. in diameter; petals
50 60 in about 2 closely overlapping series, widely spreading, 6–8 lines long,
about 1 line broad, linear, tapering towards the base bright yellow on the in
ner face, whitish on the back. Stamens collected into a column about 4 lines
long; filaments yellow, fading into a white at the base; anthers orange yellow;
ovary slightly convex at the top; stigmas usually 6–7 (sometimes 5), finally
6–7 lines long and exceeding, and curving over the stamens, filiform, yel
lowish, capsule somewhat compressed, 4 1 – 2 to 6 lines in diameter, 6–7 valved.
Seeds smooth, brown.
Prieska Division, at Zand Vlei, Burchell; Pole Evans. This species was
the first that was discovered of these very remarkable mimicry and windowed
plants, but as I have already given some account of its discovery and redis
covery on page 250, Vol. LXX, I need only add here that the above descrip
tion was made from the living plants that were so generously sent to me by
Dr. I. B. Pole Evans, and the figure is reproduced from a photograph kindly
sent to me by Mr. T. N. Leslie. This figure represents the tuberculate form,
but I also have other forms that are very much smoother with only a coarse
network of slightly impressed lines upon the top of the plant. (Fig. 1.)
In his very interesting account of plant mimicry, Dr. Marloth (Trans. S.
Afr. Phil. Soc., Vol. 15, p. 99), remarks that Burchell, “in his travels through
the Karroo found a species of Mesm. which he named M. turbiniforme, think
ing it to be undescrihed”. As a matter of fact it was found by Thunberg, who
had named it M. truncatum from the shape of its leaves. Dr. Marloth has in
this been misled by Sonder’s union of these two species in the Flora Capensis.
For not only are they two utterly different species, but one is a Lithops and
the other a Conophytum, and grow about 200 miles away from each other.
(Note: M. truncatum is Conophytum truncatum, discovered by
Thunberg, who never visited Prieska, where M. turbiniforme, as
already mentioned, was discovered by Burchell.—G.C.N.)