Living Stone
''Lithops'' is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words () 'stone' and () 'face', referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants. They avoid being eaten by blending in with surrounding rocks and are often known as pebble plants or living stones. The formation of the name from the Ancient Greek ''-ops'' means that even a single plant is called a Lithops. Description Individual ''Lithops'' plants consist of one or more pairs of bulbous, almost fused leaf, leaves opposite to each other and hardly any Plant stem, stem. The slit between the leaves contains the meristem and produces flowers and new leaves. The leaves of ''Lithops'' are mostly buried below the surface of the soil, with a partially or completely translucent top surface known as a leaf window which allows light to enter the interior of the leaves for photosynthesis. During winter a new l ...
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Rudolf Marloth
Hermann Wilhelm Rudolf Marloth (28 December 1855 Lübben, Germany – 15 May 1931 Caledon, Cape Province) was a German-born South African botanist, pharmacist and analytical chemist, best known for his ''Flora of South Africa'' which appeared in six superbly illustrated volumes between 1913 and 1932. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing a botanical name. Biography Early life Marloth studied pharmacy in Lübben from 1873-1876. after which he worked at various pharmacies in Germany and Switzerland, then formally qualified as a pharmacist at the University of Berlin. In 1883 he was awarded a doctorate for his thesis "''The protective mechanisms employed by seeds against harmful agents''". He arrived in Cape Town on 30 December 1883 after being urged to do so by a schoolfriend who had already settled there. During his first year there he worked as a pharmacist for the firm of Wentzel and Schleswig. He was enthralled by Cape Town and Table Mountain and ...
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