Mesembs on a Windowsill

I've kept these plants now for more than four years. Some change, some just...stay pretty much the same. Mesembs evolved in some of the harshest real estate on Earth, much of which has sadly become actual real estate and no longer supports these exquisitely weird little plants.

From left to right, they are Gibbaeum (likely heathii), Titanopsis, Pleiospilos nelii, and Argyroderma. None of these grow well outdoors in tropical Zone 10, but inside a not-very-humid house, in quartz chipped soil in a sunny eastern window, they're fine. They get some water every 7-10 days.

Radical Mesemb Surgery: The Results

The surgery on my Gibbaeum mysterioso was successful. I now have a happy, thriving little unidentified succulent:

Unidentified Gibbaeum

And to celebrate the happy outcome, Babytoes is blooming again! (Well, she can't exactly heft a "Congratulations" sign, can she? ;-)

Blooming Fenestraria

Hope your Monday is a peaceful one. See you for Pensive Tuesday!

Mystery Mesemb of the Month: What Is It?

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:

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?