Say it: ply-OSS-pih-los NEL-ee-eye. Common names: split rock, mimicry plant, cleft stone.
Where it grows
The Great Karoo of South Africa, among quartz and stone, where it's nearly invisible until it flowers.
Size and growth
One or two pairs of thick, grey-green, speckled leaves split down the middle, each pair 2–3 inches across and far larger than a Lithops. Like Lithops, new leaves grow from the split and absorb the old pair. A healthy plant has at most two pairs of leaves; more than that means it's been overwatered.
Flowers
A bright orange daisy, up to 3 inches across, from the split in late winter or early spring. The 'Royal Flush' form has purple leaves and pink flowers.
Care
- Light: very bright light to full sun.
- Water: this is the whole game. Water lightly in fall and spring when the plant wrinkles; stop while the new leaves absorb the old ones, and keep nearly dry in the heat of summer. Overwatering splits the leaves and rots the plant.
- Soil: almost entirely mineral.
- Cold: keep above about 40°F.
From seed
Easy, germinating in 7–14 days, and seedlings tolerate steadier moisture than adults for their first few months. Fast for a mesemb: flowering size in 2–3 years.