My apologies for missing yesterday's entry -- my nap last night turned into a good night's rest -- but we'll make up for it by having an entry this Saturday. Ruth has put together today's entry:

UBC's Botany Photo of the Day would like to thank sky_view@Flickr for sharing today's awesome picture (original) via the BPotD Flickr Photo Pool.

The genus Conophytum is closely related to the living stones, or Lithops. Both genera are in the Aizoaceae. Like the living stones, species of Conophytum generally produce two above-ground plump succulent leaves. In the picture above, the Conophytum maughanii specimen is breaking dormancy, revealing new wrinkly crimson leaves. Last year's bloom is also present in this photo as the shriveled projection between the leaves. The center of the two leaves is where the meristem resides -- where new pairs of leaves will be produced irregularly. The leaves are often described as being "windowed", meaning they have leaves mostly buried underground and just a window (the leaf surface) is exposed for light harvesting. In time, they may form larger clumps of paired-leaved individuals, but often are simply a single pair of leaves just popping out of the rocky substrate where they dwell. Conophytum and Lithops species are native to Africa, and more specifically, Namibia and South Africa. They are gaining popularity as houseplants as they require very little water and a sunny window.