After my recent Faucaria post, in which I learned a lot about the changing taxonomy of mesembs and how nursery labels ain't always right, I found myself looking bleakly at a sorry little plant my local nursery gave me as a freebie when I bought a few supplies last week. Scarred, withered, and forlorn, it sat in its pot, which bore a scuffed label, "Gibbaeum heathii". I looked up this species in my books and went, "Huh. That's no G. heathii!"
Nursery labels can be...misleading. Okay, they can just be flat-out wrong.
So what is it?? Another Gibbaeum? A mutant G. heathii?? I'm thinking an Antegibbaeum fissoides. Or maybe a Cheiridopsis? Many of my readers are far more expert than I am, so I am asking you to Name That Mesemb. And thanks in advance for your good help! I am slowly learning. Really.
Here it is:
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| Mesemb mysteriosa |
And here's a closer view, it's peeking around the corner now....
A new set of leaves (impossible to photograph yet) is emerging from the central leaf pair. It's got a velvety texture. That's all I can say! What is this creature of mystery?? And will it get along with my Lithops?
