A MIXED IN-HABITAT COLONY OF LITHOPS KARASMONTANA SUBSP. BELLA AND SUBSP. EBERLANZII by Roy Earle, Hilde Mouton and Janice RoundPhotographs by the authors

摘要

Different Lithops taxa often occur in close proximity of each other without any indication of hybridization. Cole & Cole (2005) list 10 such instances with probably several more being unrecorded. However, it is also now well established that hybridization probably does occur in some locations where different species meet. Cole & Cole (2005) assumed that the plants in colony C087 are L.hallii x L.salicola hybrids, showing characteristics of both species. The hybridization of subspecies has also been reported with clear intermediates between L.pseudotruncatella subsp. dendritica and subsp. groendrayensis very evident in the colonies studied (Earle & Schoeman 2012, Green 2012).