flora-file:

buds and fruits (by flora-file)

Lithops verruculosa [x]

flora-file:

Titanopsis calcarea (by Etwin1)

A member of the Lithops genus, a succulent. They evolved to look like rocks, and what you see in the center is a budding flower.

Echinopsis tiegeliana

Photo by me.

This is the gorgeous flower of Parodia magnifica, a cactus found in Brazil and Uruguay. It is, unsurprisingly, in the Cactaceae family. Its common name is the Ball Cactus.

Photo by me.

These strange-looking things are members of the Lithops genus, the rock cactus genus. They are succulents, native to Africa, but are cultivated as house plants. The leaves are the  bulbous part of the plant.

This is teddy-bear cholla, Cylindropuntia bigelovii. It’s found in parts of Mexico, California, Arizona and Nevada. Its flowers are a yellow-green color, and they were previously grouped in the prickly-pear genus, Opuntia, but have since been placed in their own genus. The spines are called glochids.

The drug peyote comes from Lophophora williamsii, a member of the Cactaceae, cactus family. It contains alkaloids, which are the compounds that make it psychoactive. When being harvested as a drug, the top of the cactus is removed and dried, then made into a tea.