When split rocks and stone plants divide, the two halves separate and new leaves grow up through the centre. Split rocks are very well camouflaged in their native environment and the leaf surfaces are slightly lumpy, making this yet another sci-fi plant. Camouflage prevents the plant from being eaten by grazing buck, which have poor eyesight when it comes to detecting detail, but are very good at sensing motion. They also grow in among lerger stones, which prevents them being trampled.
The plants pictured here are Pleiospilus nelli and when the new leaves emerge in autumn, the old leaves remain, although many others absorb the older set of leaves so that only the most recent two remain. The plant below has a seed pod from an old flower remaining. They can be a little difficult to grow as they will rot if they are given water in colder weather and don't like much water when it is hot either. If you give them too little water, they refuse to flower, so it is a delicate balancing act.
