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Gasteria species
LIZARD LIPS
This is a strange, small, succulent plant with short, stout leaves that grow no longer than 3 or 4 inches. This is not a landscaping plant. Rather, it is a slow growing curiosity plant that should only be used for containers or tucked into close spaces in rock gardens or cracks in garden walls. Growing in the cover of grasses and under shrubbery in its native habitat, it likes part shade to quite a lot of shade. You've never seen a weird plant like it! It has a leathery, bumpy "hide," or skin, that looks like the rough exterior surface of some desert reptile! The bumps are white colored "warts" against the dark green background of the leaves. If weirdness alone doesn't do it for you, then wait for spring when it sends out beautiful coral and chartreuse colored flowers, like hanging bells, on long, slender stems. It will very slowly form a clump up to 12 or 14 inches wide, and plants can live to be many decades old. This is one of the few succulents that can tolerate the low-light conditions of indoor growing, and is fantastic on sunny to bright windowsills indoors. The long flower stems hold up very well as cut flowers and are an exotic addition to bouquets. Frost tender; normal garden watering with brief dry intervals, to quite dry.
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