When it comes to growing Lithops, the color, pattern, texture, and number of heads that the species tend to develop are all potential factors into the choice of which species to grow. DO you like a lot of deep, bright colors? Do you want your specimens to produce many heads, and form a large clump? Do you like lots of texture and grooves on the top? There’s a species – or cultivar – or variety – for you.
In this post, I’ll be talking about an uncommon favorite of mine with multiple varieties: Lithops gracilidelineata. I mainly have Lithops gracilidelineata var. waldroniae in my collection, specifically Cole Number 189. I’ve grown 3 from seed:
- L. gracilidelineata ssp. gracilidelineata var. gracilidelineata
- L. gracilidelineata ssp. gracilidelineta var. waldroniae
- L. gracilidelineata ssp. brandbergensis
The ones I’ve grown the longest are my waldroniae, C189, grown both as seedlings from Mesemb Study Group seed as well as a fantastically textured specimen from Steve Hammer.
My first Lithops gracilidelineata, back in the spring of 2023.
Habitat
As with all Lithops, these are native to the southern areas of Africa (though not South Africa) – in particular, they’re found in a very limited area within Namibia.
The populations overlap to a certain extent, but are visually distinct. They all grow in some variety of light colored gravel, such as quartzite or feldspar, though the brandbergensis subspecies tends to be found in more brownish gravel than the others. The coloration of the plants tends to reflect the shade of gravel or quartz their ancestral genetics came from.
They generally grow in the shade of rocks or other plants. The two gracilidelineata subspecies are often found as neighbors with various hoodia, aloes, and even some stapeliads. The brandbergensis, by contrast, sledom has succulent neighbors – although photos of them in habitat show what must be seasonal grasses that have since dried up.
Growth Habits and Appearance
Enticingly, each of the different subspecies of gracilidelineata has its own charm and distinctive appearances – at least, once you know what to look for.
I’ll preface this part with a note that I’m pulling my descriptions from my books, as well as sources I trust from the internet. Where I can link such a source, I will. I will also note that unless you know for sure where your seeds or plants came from, and trust that source to have accurately labeled their specimens… identification can be tricky. While you can often identify species or cultivars from educated guesses based on internet sleuthing, I’d caution against assigning a Cole number to your plants unless you know for certain they can be traced back to that collection number. Cole numbers serve a specific purpose in identifying lineage back to a very specific site that a plant was collected from.
Philosophically, if our subsequent selection in cultivation changes that appearance to emphasize traits that we like to such a degree they don’t seem the same at all(you’ll see what I mean when we compare my seed grown C189 to the one I bought from Steve Hammer)… I leave that to you to decide if it’s still “truly” that Cole number.
So: if you want a very specific Cole Number, cultivar, or variety, look for sellers that can vouch for where they acquired their seed or plants from. In my case, the plants I’ll be using as examples below came from seed sourced from the UK group Mesemb Study Club, Silverhill Seeds in South Africa, or from Mesa Garden.
Lithops gracilidelineata ssp. gracilidelineata
In habitat, plants are fairly round in shape, typically quite pale – almost a whitish gray with a bit of a pink or buff wash to them. They have a highly textured face, and the reddish brown lines being somewhat sunken in the top adds to a reddish hue.
Photos of habitat plants are often more textured than the young seed-grown specimens in my collection, and with less contrasting reddish lines. Photos used for identification over at lithops.info also show less starkly colored specimens.
The species as a whole does blush to deeper hues as the summer goes on, so this stronger coloration I see in my plants this year may also be due to seasonal changes. As seedlings, there was quite a variety in patterning.
However…by holding on to the most patterned of this batch of seeds, did I influence the plants in my collection towards being more deeply patterned? Absolutely. And that same inclination to hold on to the most striking seedlings produced was probably mirrored by the person who contributed the seed to the Mesemb Study Group.
And thus, we have plants that are ostensibly the same species, even the same Cole number, as the ghostly looking original species – but have much more color and pattern than their wild cousins.
Lithops gracilidelineata ssp. gracilidelineata var. waldroniae
My favorite of the group, these are highly textured with deep grooves and indentations. When found in habitat, they’re described as having very deep reddish lines within the grooves of the face. They generally have a very pale whitish gray background color, though they blush pinker as summer wears on.
My seed-grown plants trend much more to the blushing side of the spectrum year-round, though the specimen from Steve Hammer is much paler and less red in tone.
December, 2024
June, 2025
In the comparison above, you can see the difference in hue from the pale winter coloration to the beginning of the summer “blush”. This is also noticeable in the mildly out of focus seed-grown plant above, although that specimen isn’t as textured as the lovely two-headed plant I have.
This particular variety was first collected by Molly Waldron in 1960, and the variety was later named after her by Dr. de Boer.
In habitat, the majority of this variety (75%) had only one head, with two-headed specimens being the next most common. It follows that you can expect your own Lithops gracilidelineata ssp. gracilidelineata var. waldroniae to rarely produce more than a single head, no matter the age. My little two-headed specimen is thus quite the novelty!
Above, we can see some of my waldroniae seedlings with different colors – the one in focus is almost a blue-green color, rather than a tan or rose. With age and continued growth, the entire seed batch seemed to standardize, so this differentiation between seedlings ended up being of no consequence.
They were rather large even as seedlings, which was interesting to note.
Lithops gracilidelineata ssp. brandbergensis
The brandbergensis subspecies tends to have more color to it than the gracilidelineata subspecies, often reddish, orange, or tan to match the darker brown gravel they grow against.
They also come from a smaller series of populations, with only a handful of colonies noted. Their region is also fairly harsh, with no accompanying succulents found in the same areas.
As with other gracilidelineata, the majority grow as only single-headed specimens. Habitat photos show multiple “generations” of the subspecies, with younger and older plants nestled close together and almost giving the impression of multiple heads.
Cultivation for Lithops gracilidelineata
As with most lithops, care for all three of the subspecies/varieties I have is pretty standard. You can adjust the stressors in your environment to encourage better color or a larger size, which is what I’ve done for my specimen plants in the greenhouse.
As far as I can tell or as far as I know, the level of texture on top becomes the most pronounced by year 3 or so, when the plants are reaching close to adult size. Plenty of pampering didn’t seem to make my most deeply grooved waldroniae smooth out – rather, it just was plump and grooved. Stress, decreased water, and more sun didn’t cause my other specimens to sink in and develop grooves, either.
Soil
Soil is a pretty simple affair for these lithops.
I prefer a mix that is, as ever:
In the photo at right, you can see I experimented with some decomposed granite as a top dressing – I’ll just use plain pumice next time. The DG formed a crust on top, and made it pretty challenging to water things well. I suspect if I’d sifted out the fines (used a sieve like this one to sift out the rocky bits from the super-fine dust), it wouldn’t have been so problematic…but that’s what I get for being lazy.
January 2025
June 2025
Watering
These follow the typical Lithops pattern:
Growing season starts in the fall, usually around September or October for me. They start to separate a little bit, and sort of…plump up a little, even if they haven’t had water. My plants often get overspray from me watering the cacti in the greenhouse, so when they’re ready to wake up, I do see them starting to plump up and look like they’re starting to grow again.
Many species bloom after they’ve had their first big drink or two of water, though some prefer a little longer before they produce flowers.
While they’re blooming and for the weeks or months afterward, they’ll take regular (but not necessarily frequent) watering. They should dry out completely after being watered, and usually stay that way for an extra few days after. I water them once or twice a month, depending on how they look.
My waldroniae has bloomed twice for me, both times producing the flower in late October. Notes on their behavior in habitat indicate they typically bloom in late summer, not mid-fall, when they’ve had enough rainfall.
In my case, I’d bet on our long-lasting and hot summers being a primary reason for a delayed bloom. Once it starts to cool off and they’ve had a few deep drinks, that’s when I see mine blooming.
Flowers are a cheery yellow, and interestingly the waldroniae variety has tiny flowers that are nearly half the size of the others. The waldroniae flowers are typically 9.5 – 15.5 mm, or 0.3″ to 0.6″, rarely up to 0.78″.
The other subspecies start at .86″ and can range up to 1.25″, also yellow but noticeably larger when compared side by side to the waldroniae.
Around mid-winter, the plants start to divide. At this stage, water should be withheld entirely unless you see the new leaves in the center starting to wrinkle as well as the outer leaves.
I did water my lithops once during the division process, to encourage the new leaves to be larger in size, but really made sure to refrain from moisture. In San Diego, these winter months are when we usually get the most rain, so the humidity likely helped out as well.
It feels like it takes forever, and it kind of does. My waldroniae finished dividing and absorbing their leaves well into spring – they started in late January and didn’t finish until April!
Once the division is done, however, they’ll take regular watering again until they go to sleep for the summer. I usually start holding back water when the daytime highs (outside of the greenhouse) are 85 – 90F. Long, hot days and bright sunshine are when lithops sleep.
Through the summer months, I keep water to the barest minimum, only splashing them when I see visible wrinkling on specific plants. They don’t need a deep water where it flows out of the drainage on the bottom, it should be just enough to moisten the top of the soil and give the roots a little spritz. A regular ole spray bottle works well, too.
Then it’s back to Fall, and the growing (and watering) process starts all over again!
Light Exposure
For the best appearance, this species needs it pretty bright. I’ve moved my lithops around in the greenhouse, and adjusted my shade cloth for more light.
In winter, there is no shade cloth overhead or for the morning light. The only shade cloth I don’t remove is a 30% shade cloth I have hanging on the western side of the greenhouse; as the sun sets, it shines right in to that side, and kept scorching my seedlings.
In summer, there is 10% shade cloth over the top of the “morning” section, where the sun is strongest as is rises. There is 40% shade cloth directly overhead, which prevents scorching.
The main goal with my lighting situation is to ensure they get plenty of light in winter, when they’re actively growing. This keeps the growth compact and tidy, the way they should be. Unlike Lithops karasmontana, this species is significantly less prone to stretching on a whim – so you shouldn’t see signs of it getting tall.
In summer, I increase the shade to prevent scorching. Longer days mean more hours of light, so it doesn’t necessarily need to be as intense. In habitat, they’d likely be sunken down below the soil line, sheltered from sun by dust, dirt, or dead grass.
If you’re aiming to grow these indoors, you need extremely bright lights to mimic the sunshine they need. I personally haven’t seen anyone successfully growing these indoors with grow lights, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
That said, I’d try one of these indoors only if you’ve already seen success with other Lithops species.
Love Lithops gracilidelineata?
I have a small handful of these adult-sized plants from the batches I’ve seed grown left in my shop!
These can be notoriously hard to find, and I’m fortunate to have a few of each subspecies available, as well as more seedlings coming along. If you don’t see the species or subspecies you’re searching for, keep checking back!
You can also shoot me an email at jen@trexplants.com if you’d like me to look for something specific. I often have quite a few younger seedlings that are established, but just on the smaller side for what I prefer to list online.
Thank you for reading!
