Living Stones…were originally discovered by William John Burchell (English explorer – naturalist) in 1811 when he picked up a curiously shaped pebble and it turned out to be a plant!
Lithops
is a genus of succulent plants native to Africa, their bodies are in
fact a pair of leaves that have evolved to efficiently retain whatever
moisture becomes available to the plant. To minimize any evaporation
the leaves have become so truncated that they have lost the appearance
of a normal leaf and have become rounded like a pebble! This has made
them less obvious to foraging animals since they mimic the color and
appearance of the soil and stones in their surroundings thus standing a
great chance of survival.
The "Split Rock" plant looks like a green speckled rock split open in half.
"Lithos" means "stone" and "opsis" is "face" in Ancient Greek;
therefore, "Lithops" means "stone-face".
The pebble in the brook secretly thinks itself a precious stone.
Japanese proverb
