Desert Squirrel

By PolS

Stone plant revealing new body

Only day 3, and it's dull and wet, so an indoor shot. This is one of my collection of Lithops, or stone plants, native to southern Africa. It was incorrectly labelled when I bought it, so I don't have a species/variety name for it. It flowered last year, and is currently renewing itself. None of the individual bodies are dividing this year (when this happens, two new 'bodies' emerge from one set of 'leaves').

I've been interested in these succulents since I was a child, and have looked for them in the wild in South Africa and Namibia without success. I've found the closely related Conophytum species in South Africa, but not Lithops. They are very patchily distributed, and often covered with sand and debris, as well as being extremely well camouflaged in the stoney desert. Usually they only allow themselves to be spotted when they are flowering. I'm keen to go for another look one day!

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