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Pleiospilos bolusii
Also called Living Rock Cactus, Mimicry Plant, Stone Quaggafig
Pleiospilos bolusii, the African living rock or mimicry plant, is a tiny stemless succulent that looks like a split pebble and blooms with a large yellow daisy-like flower. Give it strong light, very sparing water and well-drained mineral soil.
Pleiospilos bolusii, the mimicry plant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aizoaceae, native to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, where it grows at an elevation of 750–1,100 m (2,461–3,609 ft). The species epithet bolusii honours Harry Bolus, a 19th-century South African botanist.
It is a small, stemless succulent perennial growing to 8 cm (3 in) tall by 15 cm (6 in) wide, with two or four opposite grey-green leaves, quite thick, fused at the base, almost triangular, with entire margins. The leaves are longer and more angular than those of the closely related P. nelii, but in both cases the shape and texture of the leaves resemble a pile of split pebbles, possibly to deter predators. The yellow, many-petaled, daisy-like flowers emerge from the center of the leaves, and are 6–8 cm (2–3 in) in diameter - large in relation to the overall size of the plant.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Pleiospilos bolusii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
