I don't know what it is,but it's cute.Hope someone knows.

That is cute...is it your plant or pic you found?

oh my!

That's adorable!...I've never seen anything like that before irl.

It's a pic I found, it's so beautiful, hoping I can find out it's name so I can find out where to get one

in all my internet searches, shopping for succulents, and there's been a LOT, I've never seen anything like that.

Much less searching out the strange & unusual at garden centers, far and near.

Do keep us updated if you find out what it is =)

Hoping that it is a real plant :)

I am leaning toward fake, now that rina mentioned it.. It is just so perfect and those bronze stems perfectly match the green leaves... Keep us posted.

Maybe a Corpuscularia or a Delosperma?

I'm thinking it might be fake, too. Hard to zoom in on it but if you look closely below the stem looks like its going into the green bud (like my mom's fake grapes hanging from the beams in her kitchen)

Faux-evah succulent was what i had suspected too ☺

Good call on the Corpuscularia.

I did a google search for Corpuscularia hybrid and this one came closest.

click me

Could well be an artists' rendition of this type of plant if not real.

Lol, an artist rendition (nicely said hookilau!). Hope they are not selling seeds for the pictured plant - ppl may be disappointed...

Lolllll! Not ashamed to admit I fell for that one!!!

Live & learn ☺

Good detective work!

It really doesn't look real in original photo, but... Very interesting plant.

I've been searching for this post for over 2 weeks or so without result and it's just been resurrected! The reason was I had contacted a Chinese friend who relocated from Beijing to Virginia and asked her what the writing was, she speaks a different dialect but she did tell me it was a type of lotus. I tried to find this post but couldn't trace it to tell you what it was!

Gill

I agree, it looks too perfect to be real, but then I saw this, and I was like "Whoaaaa, waitaminnit ..."

Man, I wish I could read Chinese. Also wish I understood botany.

anyhoo ...

The African plant database says the name "echinus maximilianus" has been rejected, that it's actually 'braunsia maximilianus'. Common name is obviously echinus or we wouldn't see so many google results.

http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=109361

I don't know what this "an isotope of" means:

http://plants.jstor.org/search?qtype=all&query=Echinus+maximilianii

Lampranthus maximiliani <------ another synonym, but again, not much in the way of botanical hits when I Google!

Back to (older) post by bunkfree: they say isotype not isotope.

Here is what I found on net (Wiki):

To be an isotype of a particular gene family means to belong to a set of genes that encode functionally similar proteins. Usually, isotypes that belong to a particular gene family are duplicate copies of the same gene that arose because of a mistake during DNA replication. As the species continues to evolve, those duplicated genes are passed on from generation to generation until every member of the species has a copy. Each of those genes have since undergone mutations of their own, such that they diverge slightly in structure and function, giving rise to the different isotypes known today.

Braunsia Maximiliani. Can be bought on C and D plants website. I just got one!

In regard to the Chinese name, a lot of flowering plants in Chinese have the character for 'lotus', or 'chrysanthemum' in them, so it does not mean the particular plant is related to either 'lotus' or 'chrysanthemum'. For example, Echeveria is called 'mock rock lotus' in Chinese. For this succulent, the 3 characters are - the first character means greenish-blue color, usually refers to jade; the second character is 'fish'; and the last character is 'lotus' - so its name virtually is 'jade fish lotus' in Chinese.

Echinus maximilianus, just ordered mine and it's real.

I've got a gorgeous plant that's extremely similar to many of the plants in this thread. Mine is a bit more angular, like a pigface, but grows the same way with the leaves coming out the middle. The closest to it I reckon it in Bunkfree's pictures, second row on the right. I get home middle of next week. I'll do a web search useing some of the names in here and take some photos.

I asked for an ID here and had some suggestions but no one was sure

I have a mystery plant that looks related to this also. I must take a photo and submit a new topic. I've been wishing I knew what it is.

Found it too. Searched echinus in the the Family section of the website Llife/Succulents.

There were 8 "hits" first one I tried...

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Aizoaceae/27454/Echinus_maximiliani