I can't take credit for any of them- not mine. I'm looking around and studying up because I also want to try growing some.

I have seen some really lovely mixed displays of mesembs, but because many are so particular about conditions, you have to be very careful about which ones you grow together. One pot I saw used large rocks to recreate the niches of many different mesembs in cracks, corners, under overhangs, etc. Clever and interesting.

I don't know much about mesembs but I love the challenge of finding IDs and like to help! Do you think #24 is Lithops optica "Rubra"? So beautiful it caught my eye! I looked very carefully before posting what I have found, if it is incorrect I apologize!

1. It's in the same family as cheiridopsis, no clue what variation.

2. I want to say a mutation of L. olivacea

3. Hard to tell with that picture quality, looks like conophytum verrucosum

4. Looks like L. hookerii suzannae

5. I could be wrong but it looks like L. pseudotruncatella

6. Lithops schwantesii v. (syn. Lithops guliemii)

7. Lesliei v. lesliei 'Albinica'

8. It is a conophytum probably same family as #1 Don't know the name of it.

9. Looks like more of #6 or #4.

10. I don't know exactly what #10 is but it seems like a mutation or variation of #4

11. optica 'Rubra'

12. Conophytum meyeri

13. Conophytum calculus subspecies Vanzylii

15. I don't know it, it's also a little hard to tell with the picture.

16. Looks like L. dorothaea

17. L. Lesliei 'Venter green'

18. L. otzeniana

19. Definitely a Conophytum, definitely not sure which one.

20. Could be L. hookeri vermiculate

21. Can't identify that one.

22. It's probably L. lesliei v. venteri

23. L. hookeri var. marginata

24. I believe that one is just another specimen of #11

If you're new to Lithops or Conophytum know that both have different growing habits and preferences. As for the lithops I have grown many myself with an extremely large amount of failure. I grow them in California. By a little bit of dumb luck I found out their preferred way to grow in my area. If your place is very sunny and hot, you will need to plant them in a place where they get diffused light, under a larger plant that doesn't completely block the sun but will shade the Lithops from the hottest parts of the day. Anything more or less than diffused light will cause them to deflate in my experience. The Lithops are very difficult for me, be prepared to lose a lot before you find the best place to grow them. Start with the cheapest type you can find and experiment with places to put them. On a side note I think #8 may be impossible to grow outside of parts of Asia.

Cactus, thats very interesting! I've left lithops in full sun & growlights for hours. Mine seem to like it... Especially those overfed ones from home depot I have. Those suckers seem to be fine with anything I throw at them for some reason...! Mind sharing what part of california? Coastal, northern... Southern etc.

They're definitely tricky to grow and I also lost a bunch.

#19 looks like an argyroderma to me, argyroderma pearsonii

#21 could be a lithop. Sometimes 2 pairs come out if the middle. Havent done any research on why that is though.

Full sun along with the heat? Pretty sure the heat is what's doing it. After I stuck them under diffused light with lower amounts of heat, I couldn't keep them from springing up.

It does get in the high 80s here. But it starts cooling off around 5pm (summers). Maybe that helps mine

Which part of california are you in? I'm northern California

I'm in Southern, it gets to be 90-100 rather frequently.

#2 looks like that plant from this thread that we thought might have been fake (but isn't)

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4078387/need-help-identifying-succulent-please?n=18

8. Conophytum burgeri?

Thanks, guys!

I didn't expect anyone to be able to name so many, Cactusj. Thanks for that. How do you tell the different Lithops species apart, is it color or pattern? Also, I have one more for you to ID. I picked it up tonight at HD. The plants are fat as ticks and already scarred, and the soil is bone dry, so I expect these to the first on that line of failures. ;-)

Bunkfree, I looked through that thread, and I'm inclined to agree that it is probably not a real plant. I think it might be a closeup of one of those "leaves," which look like mesembs. These plants are from an eBay listing, and I've found many fake photos on eBay. Among the fakes are a rainbow striped rose, a black rose, and even a "rare glowing plant."

Here's the new one

But it's not a fake... Echinus maximilianus/braunsia maximiliani - look at a Google search.

Seems to be very popular with many Chinese collectors. I found it on Instagram, and it took some sleuthing to finally find the name after clicking a million Chinese hashtags LOL. It is in the mesemb family.

http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/details.php?langue=an&id=113042

Wow Bunk. You probably shouldn't have shown me that. Now I want one. What a wonderfully funky little plant.

Lol! Sorry!

That plant is referred to commonly as 'fish' or 'blue fish' .... but I also garnered that succs in general are affectionately referred to as 'meat friends'; at least according to the Chinese to English translation on Instagram.

@kwie2011 Color, pattern, in some cases the way and height they grow and sometimes the flower. The one on the left looks like a lesliei and the one on the right looks like L. olivacea nebrownii. Home Depot and the like love repotting different species together a lot. Certainly good if you're a collector!

I forgot to say that most Lithops with very few exceptions seem to be the most comfortable when they are completely flush with the ground I.E. when the tops are at the same level as the dirt, so completely covered save for the top. The ones I did not do this treatment for always grew slower than the ones that were buried up to the top. You pretty much cover everything except for the top of the plant and the little crack if you can avoid it (though I don't think this will hurt the plant if it does happen) They can also be somewhat frost sensitive, so the insulation more than likely helps a lot for them. They are usually found in the wild to be buried in that way as well.

Bunk, and Cactusj, if you believe the seller (who also sells the black rose and the rainbow striped rose, so use your own judgement), then for 99 cents you can have seeds for any one of the mesembs pictured, or for $14.99 you can have seeds for each of them. I sent a note asking how many seeds for each. Responses from sellers in China are rarely intelligible, but it's a simple question. What's to lose but 99 cents and some time and effort.

Listing title:

Seeds Lithops seeds rare exotic bonsai succulents seeds potted plants seeds.

Seller

1949Store

I don't believe I'll be buying any seeds online from China any time soon :D

Where's your sense of adventure?

;-).

Curiosity got the best of me. I spent the 99 cents. I'll probably get an envelope of ragweed seeds.

Hah!

I once planted a bunch of "Columbine" seeds and got a good percentage of a devastatingly prolific spreading geranium. 4-5 years later and I'm *still* pulling sprouts out of my garden every spring.

Oh, sh*t! Mine will be in a dish indoors, so I'm probably safe, but that is something to keep in mind.

It was my own fault LOL! They were actually quite pretty - and I didn't bother to find out what they were before I let them go to seed.

Yeah, I don't ever purchase from someone that uses fake pictures.

I also have a thing about buying seeds online if it isn't something simple like a packet of geraniums. A lot of times I went to purchase seeds and they never germinated. Who knows how long they had been out before I got them.

Bunk, I missed some stuff in earlier posts, like "meat friends." That's too funny. I'll bet direct translations are difficult from Chinese to English.

Cactusj, thanks for the IDs & advice on the new Lithops. I don't know why I care since I'm likely to kill 'em anyway, but I guess I like to know what I kill.

You'll kill less of them with the advice you get here, it was my pleasure.

Kwie2011 I like your lithops! Hmmm.. I wonder if the HD store or Lowes around here will have any. I am really wanting to get some seeds but I'm pretty sure I will have to have a good light set up before I do that.

My HD got a shipment some time in the last couple weeks. They had these and some Faucaria, and new Pleiospilos nelii. No idea whether all HDs receive shipments around the same time, but it's worth looking.

#2-Echinus maximilianus