The quirky side of the succulent world: bizarre shapes that earn endless praise

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Images: Curator

Many friends who have just fallen into the succulent rabbit hole mostly picture succulents as pretty and cute, the kind you cannot put down at first glance. But today the shop owner is going to show you the wildly strange other side of succulents. Their looks and habits overturn your impression of traditional plants, and some are even a bit bizarre!

| Tony |

This small Crassula, commonly known as Tony, looks a lot like little piles of poop! Especially in its native habitat on the arid stony flats of South Africa, its color blends right into the surrounding environment, and if you do not look carefully you would really think it was animal droppings. The thick white leaves grow alternately and are packed tightly together, with a rough, grainy surface. It blooms small cream-yellow flowers, which are especially cute!

| Fang Ta |

The top view of this fleshy plant looks like a monster with its bloody mouth wide open about to eat someone. The gray-green leaf surface is rough and grainy, the leaves grow in opposite pairs and are closely arranged in layers, and seen from the side it looks like a tower, sparking all kinds of wild ideas.

| Mountain Rose |

This "rose that never withers" has already become the top choice for Valentine's Day gifts these days. The rose-like part is not a flower but its leaves. The fleshy leaves of the Mountain Rose grow alternately and are arranged in a rosette.

In the hot season they enter dormancy, and at this time the leaves wrap tightly together, looking just like rosebuds about to bloom, usually lasting for several months.

| King Air Plant |

This young lady with a head of silvery curly hair is actually quite imposing. Commonly known as the King Air Plant, it does not need soil to grow, absorbing moisture and nutrients from the air to thrive and even produce bright flowers! Gospel for plant killers!

| Broccoli |

This fleshy plant is called Broccoli, also known as stick-leaf kalanchoe or stick-leaf phoenix. Its leaves are slender, fleshy and stick-shaped, and many adventitious buds grow along the leaf edges, like little butterflies resting there, very cute.

Why is it called "rooting wherever it lands" or "phoenix"? Because these little butterflies, once mature, break away from the mother plant and fall to the ground, and as long as the environment is suitable they will quickly take root and grow.

Extremes breed reversals, and this interesting habit can sometimes cause trouble, because they really grow far too easily!

| Little Wine Cup |

This plant that looks like a little wine cup is also one of the succulent ranks, and its name is Little Wine Cup. The wine-cup-like cup is its fleshy leaf, with edges curled up like a lotus leaf into the shape of a wine cup, and red flowers grow in clusters in the center of the leaf, very bizarre.

| Loach Palm |

Now let's look at this oddball, a succulent called Loach Palm. Its tiny leaves wither and dry up early, remaining like little thorns on its cucumber-like segmented fleshy stem, looking a lot like loaches darting around in the soil, right?!

|Synaptophyllum Juttae|

It has no Chinese name. Is it really okay to grow yourself into a blob of melted red candle wax? This adorable member of the Aizoaceae family is found in Namibia. Its fleshy opposite leaves clasp the stem, and covered with a waxy surface they are a brilliant red, so they look a lot like dripping wax.

| Baseball Plant |

These green, sea-urchin-like things are called Baseball Plants. The stripe-like parts are their 8 vertical ribs, with a row of small protruding blunt teeth in between, as if knitted, and the Baseball Plant really is a ball worthy of its name!

| Monilaria |

These cute little rabbits are scientifically named Monilaria, cute enough to make you drool! The little rabbit is fairly tolerant of water and afraid of drought. It likes partial shade. In full sun, the rabbit ears will soften and droop, and generally after a night of recovery and adjustment they will stand up again the next day.

Watching it go from sprouting to growing rabbit ears is so healing...

Draw a self-portrait for the little rabbit

These strangely shaped succulents, do you want to grow one too?

But some special succulents are rather hard to buy

Here is also a picture guide to 20 common succulents

Friends who said in the comments that they wanted to grow succulents

but did not know which kind to grow

can refer to these

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