Synonyms:

No synonyms are recorded for this species name.

Habitat:

Adromischus lavaranos is native to South Africa, were it inhabits semi-desert habitats growing among the rocks at different altitude ranges.

Description:

A. lavaranos is a small succulent growing in clumps formed by many rosette of oblong, elliptical, fleshy leaves, shaped like pointed, dark green eggs. It’s precisely the odd shape of its leaves that makes this succulent so sought after by collectors, along with its small size and rarity. Also, sometimes leaves are spotted in red and purple little dots, enhanced by intense light, that make the little plant even more decorative. A. lavaranos is the perfect plant to place in a pot by a window or on a desk of a office, requiring little care and adding a decorative potential to indoor spaces. The size of the leaves is variable, so that the rosettes end to look like untidy clusters, and don’t have the typical appearance of rosettes as we are used to seeing them. As in all Adromischus, the inflorescence is caled a raceme, which is a cluster of petiolate flowers, typically pinkish-white, star-shaped and very small, bone on an elongated, succulent, greyish stalk.

Cultivation:

Adromischus lavaranos is not difficult to grow. Here below are our cultivation tips:

Choose a bright spot, where the plant can receive plenty of light. If you place it indoors you will need to put it close to a sunny window. A direct exposure to sunlight could, however, cause leaves wrinkling the leaves: check that the plant isn’t exposed to direct sunlight for too many hours a day.
Choose a well-ventilated place. Adromischus doesn’t like stagnant air.
Adromischus lavaranos love hot temperatures (the ideal is 24 ° C), but it though can resist to cold. Its limit is 5 – 10 ° C. In winter it is good to place them in a sheltered environment and, especially, away from rain: water stagnation on the rosettes can be fatal. We advise you to put it indoors, sto stay safe in winter.
We advice to apply regular watering in summer (approximately every two weeks), scarce in winter (one per month). Nevertheless, if the plant is located indoors, it will need to be watered more frequently.
Choose a well-drained soil: for example, a mixture of peat and sand with the addition of a little of gravel.
The fertilizer can be limited to the growing season and after any repotting, always with a product specific for succulents, diluted at half of the dosed written on the label.
All Adromischus remain modest in height but are highly ground covering. Repotting it is not necessary to increase the size of the plant (unless one wishes to develop in width: if so, wide pots must be used) but it is useful to keep it in good health and to slow the aging.

Propagation:

The propagation of Adromischus lavaranos can be very easily carried out through cuttings, using the leaves. Just cut off a healthy leaf, let it rest one day in a warm environment to let the wound dry, and finally place it upright in a pot with a light, porous soil. Start to take off cuttings when the plant begins to age; all Adromischus, in fact, aren’t so long-lived: after a few years, they begin to wither and to lose their leaves even though they are grown under optimal conditions.

Curiosity:

The name ” Adromischus” comes from the ancient Greek adros (=thick) and mischos (=stem). The species name “lavaranos”, instead, was given to the plant after the botanist John Jacob Lavranos.

Official Web Site:
www.giromagi.com

Italian Blog:
www.giromagicactus.com

Tips:
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