Origin and Habitat: Near Stella, South Africa.
This is one of the species with the larger distribution, ranging in a broad band from the Free state to western Transvaal.
Habitat: It grows in areas where summer rains are common and often heavy, the plants are often found growing in gravel pockets amongst grasses. Substrate in alkaline pans and conglomeritic sandstone, brown siltstone, quartzite, ferruginuous quartzite, lava,white calcite. The plants mimic the small rocks that surround them.

• Lithops lesliei C018 Near Stella, South Africa

• Lithops lesliei (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br.
• Lithops orpenii L. Bolus
• Mesembryanthemum ferrugineum Schwantes
• Mesembryanthemum lesliei N.E.Br.
• Lithops lesliei var. applanata (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br.
• Lithops lesliei subs. burchellii D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei subs. burchellii C302 TL: 20 km NNE of Douglas, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei subs. burchellii C308 10 km NNE of Douglas, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C005 TL: (Warrenton Form) Near Warrenton, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C007 15 km S of Johannesburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C008 (grey Form) 70 km W of Mafikeng, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C009 (grey Form) 70 km W of Mafikeng, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C010 25 km SW of Lobatse, Botswana
• Lithops lesliei C014 (Kimberley Form) 15 km NW of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C018 Near Stella, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C020 (syn. luteoviridis) TL: 15 km W of Magaliesburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. luteoviridis (N.E.Br.) N.E.Br.
• Lithops lesliei C026 60 km SW of Johannesburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C027 Near Bethlehem, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C028 10 km N of Harrismith, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C029 45 km NE of Vaalwater, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C030 (Pietersburg Form) 30 km NW of Pietersburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C031 10 km NE of Meyerton, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C032 (Pietersburg Form) 10 km SE of Pietersburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C033 45 km E of Pietersburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C036 (Warrenton Form) Near Warrenton, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C096 (Warrenton Form) 25 km N of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C115 5 km NW of Vryburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C138 Near Benoni, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C139 5 km E of Benoni, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C151 (grey Form) 25 km NW of Christiana, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C331 15 km SSE of Pretoria, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C341 (Kimberley Form) 20 km NW of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C342 10 km NE of Pretoria, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C343 Near Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C344 Near Orkney, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C352 45 km E of Pietersburg, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C354 (Kimberley Form) 15 km NW of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei C358 25 km W of Lobatse, Botswana
• Lithops lesliei C359 (grey Form) 115 km SW of Lobatse, Botswana
• Lithops lesliei C407 15 km N of Krugersdorp, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. hornii de Boer
• Lithops lesliei var. hornii C015 40 km SW of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. hornii C364 TL: 45 km SSW of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. maraisii de Boer
• Lithops lesliei var. mariae D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei var. mariae C141 TL: 10 km SW of Boshof, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. mariae C152 30 km NNE of Kimberley, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. minor de Boer
• Lithops lesliei f. minor (de Boer) B.Fearn
• Lithops lesliei var. minor C006 TL: 25 km SW of Swartruggens, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. rubrobrunnea de Boer
• Lithops lesliei var. rubrobrunnea C017 TL: 5 km NW of Randfontein, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. rubrobrunnea C204 5 km NW of Krugersdorp, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. venteri (Nel) de Boer & Boom
• Lithops venteri Nel
• Lithops lesliei var. venteri C001 30 km NW of Warrenton, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. venteri C047 TL: 30 km W of Warrenton, South Africa
• Lithops lesliei var. venteri C153 (syn. maraisii) TL: 60 km NW of Kimberley, South Africa

• Lithops lesliei var. minor C006A 25 km SW of Swartruggens, South Africa cv. Witblom D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei var. venteri C001 cv. Green form
• Lithops lesliei C005A TL: Near Warrenton, South Africa cv. albiflora D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei f. albiflora (D.T.Cole) D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei C036A TL: Near Warrenton, South Africa cv. albinica D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei f. albinica (D.T.Cole) D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei C036B Near Warrenton, South Africa cv. Storms Albinigold D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei var. hornii C015A 40 km SW of Kimberley, South Africa cv. Greenhorn D.T.Cole
• Lithops lesliei cv. Fred´s Redhead
• Lithops lesliei cv. Vivid Green

Description: Lithops leslieiSN|12964]]SN|12964]] is among the easiest species to grow and is available in several distinct subspecies, variety and cultivated forms. It looks like a flowering brain, with a big, umbrella-shaped daisy flower taking its nourishment from the frontal lobes. It grows solitary or in small clumps of 1 to 10 paired leaves (mostly 2 to 5) up to 5 cm wide (often more in cultivation)
Stem: Almost stemless.
Roots: It has soft rootstocks.
Bodies (paired leaves): Quite large 2-4 cm wide. Each plant consists of a pair of extremely thick and equally or slightly unequally sized leaves fused together and separated by a shallow fissure (2-5 mm) with conjuncted lobes. The bodies are shaped like a truncate inverse, grey-green to buff, cone, flattened to slightly convex in its upper portion. The top of the leaves is elliptic to slightly reniform and varies considerably in colour depending on the substrate of origin; the colours comprises Yellow/brown, greyish/yellow, orange, rust, grey, grey/white, dark coffee, with a fine lacework of greenish-brown spots, tracing and furrows. Despite the variability in colour, the shape of this species is relatively uniform and generally recognizable by its mainly green windows or channels, and very irregular rust-brown islands with numerous mini-windows and fairly narrow, distinct and irregular margins.
Flowers: A single medium to very large yellow (or rarely white) daisy-like flower emerges from the fissure and is as large as the pair of fleshy leaves below. About 3-5 cm wide, diurnal.
Blooming season: From mid-summer through fall.
Seeds: Light to dark brown, very fine.

Bibliography: Major refences and further lectures
1) Heidrun E. K. Hartmann “Aizoaceae F – Z” Springer 2002
2) Achim Hecktheuer “Mesembs, mehr als nur Lithops” Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt. 2008
3) Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole, Uwe Beyer, Yves Delange “Les Lithops” SUCCULENTES Spécial 2008 AIAPS (now Terra seca). 2008
4) Desmond T. Cole & Naureen A. Cole “LITHOPS Flowering Stones” Cactus & Co. Libri. 2005
5) Yasuhiko Shimada “The Genus Lithops” Dobun Shoin. 2001
6) Rudolf Heine “Lithops - Lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag. 1986
7) Bernd Schlösser “Lithops – Lebende Steine” Praktische Anleitung für die Zimmerkultur. BussinessPoint MEDIA. 2000
8) Steven A. Hammer “Lithops – Treasures of the veld” British Cactus and Succulent Society. 1999
9) Desmond T. Cole “Lithops – Flowering Stones” Acorn Books 1988
10) Rudolf Heine “Lithops – lebende Steine” Neumann Verlag. 1986
11) David L. Sprechman “Lithops” Associated University Presses, Inc. 1970
12) Gert Cornelius Nel “Lithops” Hortors Limited, South Africa 1946
13) Edgar Lamb "The illustrated reference on cacti and other succulents" Blandford Press. 1978
14) Christopher Brickell, Royal Horticultural Society "RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants: K-Z., Volume 2" Kindersley, 2008
15) G. C . Nel “Lithops: Plantae succulantae, rarissimae, in terra obscuratae, e famailia Aizoaceae, ex Africa australi” Hortors Limited, Cape Town, South Africa 1946
16) Heidrun E. K. Hartmann "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae F-Z" Springer, 2002

Cultivation and Propagation: L. lesliei is a summer growing species with dry rest period over winter. Easy to grow it tolerates a degree more excess water than some particular hydrophobic species, even so it must have a very open mineral, fast draining mix with little compost and a hight degree of grit, coarse sand, small lava gravel or pebbles. Give them the maximum amount of light you are able to give them, but care should be taken about exposing them to the full blast of the sun rays in summer. Such tiny plants can easily get scorched or broiled and their appearance spoiled (this may not matter in the wild, where the Lithops have probably shrunk into the ground and becomes covered with sands).
The basic cultivation routine is: Stop watering after flowering. Start watering after the old leaves completely dry. (Usually late March or Early April) Water freely during the growing season, soak the compost fully but allow it to dry out between waterings, no water when cold. Some growers fertilize frequently, some hardly ever. Keep them dry during the winter. Nearly all problems occur as a result of overwatering and poor ventilation especially when weather conditions are dull and cool or very humid. If too much water is supplied the plants will grow out of character, bloat, split and rot. Keep them in small pots as solitary clumps or as colonies in large, shallow terracotta seed pans.
Notes: After flowering in the autumn and extending through winter season the plant doesn’t need watering, but they will still be growing, the new bodies will be increasing in size extracting water from the outer succulent leaves, allowing them to shrivel away. In fact the plant in this time extracts water and nutrient stored in the outer succulent leaves, allowing them to dehydrate relocating the water to the rest of the plant and to the new leaves that form during this period until the old leaves are reduced to nothing more than "thin papery shells".