These succulents are truly eye-opening

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Images: Le'an

Many friends who have just fallen into the succulent rabbit hole mostly think of succulents as beautiful and adorable, and can't put them down at first sight. But today we're introducing the bizarre other side of succulents. Their appearance and habits completely overturn your impression of traditional plants, and some are even a bit eccentric!

| Tony |

This small Crassula, commonly known as Tony, looks a lot like little piles of poop! Especially in its native habitat on the arid rocky flats of South Africa, its color blends into the surrounding environment, and if you don't look closely you'd really think it was animal droppings. The thick white leaves grow alternately and are tightly packed, with a rough, grainy surface. It blooms tiny creamy-yellow flowers, which are especially adorable!

| Pagoda |

The top-down 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 are opposite, tightly arranged layer upon layer, and seen from the side it looks like a pagoda, truly mind-blowing.

| Mountain Rose |

This "rose that never withers" has become the top choice for gifts on Valentine's Day. 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 silver curly hair is actually quite imposing. Commonly known as the King Air Plant, it doesn't need soil to grow; it absorbs moisture and nutrients from the air, can grow luxuriantly, and even produces bright flowers! A blessing for plant killers!

| Butterfly |

This fleshy plant is called Butterfly, 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 kalanchoe or phoenix? Because these little butterflies, once mature, detach from the mother plant and fall to the ground, and as long as there is a suitable environment, they will quickly take root and grow.

Extremes meet, 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 cup-like holder is its fleshy leaf, with edges curled up like a lotus leaf into the shape of a wine cup. Red flowers grow in clusters in the center of the leaves, very exotic.

| Loach Palm |

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

| Trachyandra tortilis |

Trachyandra tortilis doesn't have an official Chinese name yet (in fact, many succulent names are just customary). This alien-looking plant, like a piece of kelp, has broad leaves with big wavy curls, and as the seasons change it can even show a dazzling pink, very fashionable, right?

|Synaptophyllum Juttae|

No Chinese name; is it really okay to grow yourself into a blob of melted red candle? This adorable Aizoaceae plant is distributed in Namibia. Its fleshy opposite leaves clasp the stem, and covered with a waxy surface they are a brilliant red, so it looks a lot like dripping wax.

| Baseball Plant |

These green, sea-urchin-like creatures are called Baseball Plants. The stripes are their 8 vertical ribs, with a row of small protruding blunt teeth in between, as if knitted. The Baseball Plant truly lives up to its name!

| Green Light |

These cute little rabbits, scientifically named Green Light, are so adorable you'll drool! The little rabbits are fairly tolerant of water and afraid of drought. They like semi-shaded environments. Under 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 especially unusual succulents, do you want to grow one too?

But some special succulents are rather hard to buy

Below is an illustrated guide to several common succulents

You can refer to these

After reading this, do you feel that some succulents are different from what you imagined?

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