I was invited to a lunch yesterday in the countryside. It turned out to be lunch in a greenhouse full of cacti and succulents.
There were some I didn't recognise, and the only tags they had on them were prices.
This one is about 8 cm (3 in) left to right. Location: Gobi desert.
That is called Pleiospilos nelii. It's a succulent, and a member of the same family as Lithops (Aizoaceae), but it's not a Lithop. It is a leaf window plant, like Lithops. They make a yellow-orange daisy-like flower in the early spring.
Definitely from S. Africa, not Asia.
The dots are windows that let sunlight in to the interior of the plant.
Fairly common, but kind of cool looking IMO.
There's a genus called lithops that looks like that but they're native to South Africa.
I've heard these called "Living Stones" or Stone plants. That's apparently one of the common names while the Lithops is the more formal name. They are an "ice plant".
Very cool plants, for sure.
