Index:
L. ruschiorum var. ruschiorum
acf 'Silver Reed'
L. ruschiorum var. lineata
Lithops ruschiorum (Dint. & Schwant.) N.E. Br.
var. ruschiorum (1925)
Origin:
Collected by Ernst J. Rusch in 1923, and named for the Rusch family.
Distribution:
Namibia, in a long narrow strip extending northeastwards for 300 km or more along the coast from Swakopmund, and up to about 75 km inland. TL near Khan Copper Mine, NE of Swakopmund (C101).
Stone: Rose quartz and pegmatite; pegmatite; pegmatite and calcrete; pegmatite and black chert; veined quartz, calcite and calcrete; quartzite, calcite and some tourmaline. Colours pink, grey-white, with some light brown, grey, black.
Description:
Although it varies considerably in size and in the presence or absence of facial markings, this variety has a characteristic combination of cordate shape and near white colour.
Profile cordate; usually very distinctly convex; fissure deep, 10-15 mm; lobes conjunct, but sometimes slightly divergent at the top.
Face somewhat elevated; elliptic-reniform; lobes usually ± unequal; opaque; smooth to very slightly rugose.
Margins and windows absent.
Channels often absent; otherwise manifest as a broken network of slightly impressed grooves and pits, these sometimes reduced to a scattering of short lines and dots; in all cases ± completely filled by the rubrications.
Islands manifest only as areas ± enclosed by channels.
Rubrications often completely absent; otherwise a number of lines, dashes or dots set in the grooves and pits, sometimes forming a coarse broken network.
Dusky dots not visible.
Colours: Face opaque, mostly greyish white or cream, sometimes yellowish or pinkish white. Channels (grooves and pits) usually taken up ± completely by the rubrications, and difficult to distinguish from them, therefore seldom perceptible as greenish to reddish brown. Rubrications often obscure, dull orange-brown to orange-red. Shoulders as for the face, or very slightly lighter.
Size: Small to large, facial diameters up to 38 X 27 mm, mostly about 25 x 20 mm. Number of heads up to 30 or more, mostly 2-5.
Flowers:
Yellow, small to medium, up to 30 mm Ø, mostly 15-25 mm Ø, often with long pedicels.
Seed capsules mostly 5-merous (81%), otherwise mainly 6-merous (15%), 4-merous (3%) or 7-merous (1%). Profile boat-shaped, top ±flat, occasionally slightly peaked. Face broadly elliptic, up to 9 X 7 mm, mostly about 6,5 X 5 mm.
Seeds light brown to brown; rugose 1, flecked.
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Lithops ruschiorum (Dint. & Schwant.) N.E. Br.
var. ruschiorum
acf 'Silver Reed'
Origin:
German 'rusch' = reed, rush. Appeared in only one plant in a number collected from locality C387.
Description:
Flowers white (instead of yellow), but in all other respects indistinguishable from the type and therefore identifiable only when in flower.
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Lithops ruschiorum
var. lineata (G.C. Nel) D.T. Cole (1946)
Origin:
Collected by John Christiaan Michael Els, town clerk of the Municipality of Strand, CP, in 1945 or earlier. Latin lineata 'having (fine) lines'.
Distribution:
Namibia, extending north-westwards for 150 km or more along the coast from Rocky Point (19° S latitude), and up to about 60 km inland. It is possible that this variety extends to the Angolan border and even further north. Its southern limit and boundary with var. ruschiorum is not known with any certainty. The TL indicated by Nel, '40 miles north of Walfisch Bay', is obviously incorrect.
Stone: Gneiss; quartzite. Colours pink, red-brown, with some grey, brown.
Description:
Differs from the type variety in colour and in form of markings, and also has significantly smaller flowers and seed capsules, but in all other morphological respects essentially the same.
Profile cordate; very distinctly convex; fissure deep, 8-12 mm; lobes conjunct.
Face somewhat elevated, elliptic-reniform, lobes usually ± unequal; opaque; smooth to very slightly rugose.
Margins and windows absent.
Channels usually a coarse broken network of very fine lines and dots, very slightly impressed, often with a distinct line along the inner margin, and with a number of lines tapering off into the outer marginal area; this network occasionally reduced to a number of broken lines, dashes and dots; in all cases the channel grooves are very largely taken up by the rubrications.
Islands manifest only as areas ± enclosed by the channels.
Rubrications set in and mostly filling the channel grooves.
Dusky dots rarely visible even with a lens.
Colours: Face opaque pale greyish orange, apricot, pink or yellow. Channels opaque to very obscurely transluscent greenish brown or orange-brown or orange-red; channels and rubrications often not clearly distinguishable. Dusky dots obscure dull bluish grey. Shoulders as for the face or slightly lighter.
Size: As for the type, or a little smaller at maximum.
Flowers:
Yellow, small, up to 25 mm Ø, mostly 18-22 mm Ø.
Seed capsules mostly 5-merous (78%), otherwise 6-merous (19%), or 4- or 7-merous (3%). Profile boat-shaped, flat to slightly peaked. Face elliptic, with a hinge-rim, up to 6 X 4 mm, mostly about 5 X 4 mm.
Seeds light brown; rugose 1, flecked.
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* Information from COLE, DESMOND T. and NAUREEN A., (2005) Lithops Flowering Stones, Cactus&Co. Libri
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