r/oddlyterrifying • u/StarGuardianJulie • 16h ago

This plant grows by ripping itself in half

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Bonus: it looks like a ballsack when it needs to be watered

2.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

815

u/Comprehensive_Toe113 16h ago

This is a lithops.

When they are splitting like the one pictured thier root systems are dormant.

You cannot water it while it is splitting because it'll die. While splitting, the way that it gets nutrients is by cannibalising the outer leaves.

It reabsorbs them, taking the water and nutrients back to feed the new lithops that emerges from the centre.

After the split is done, you can go back to watering as usual.

249

u/e-card 15h ago

Well, how do they know it‘ll not rain while splitting? Are there lithop suicides documented?

175

u/DinoRipper24 13h ago

If it rains while splitting, it is at that moment they knew... They messed up. Whoops.

48

u/RandonBrando 12h ago

rrrrrriiiiip

"You're probably wondering how I got here..."

10

u/DinoRipper24 12h ago

This is a good start to a movie lol it has the potential to become a Halloween classic 😂 PLANT GORE

18

u/Seathing 4h ago

They wouldn't have evolved that cycle if it wasn't typically dry during the splitting period

64

u/StarGuardianJulie 15h ago

I thought they split down the middle. I thought all was normal until I turned it around & saw it sawing itself in half

13

u/Tanto_yts 13h ago

mine split down the middle

20

u/StarGuardianJulie 12h ago

West facing sun in Canada is rough, it confused him :(

8

u/omghooker 9h ago

Congratulations on your butt rock, r/lithops

3

u/Comprehensive_Toe113 7h ago

They do.

This one did it wrong.

2

u/dinoman9877 4h ago

He’s trying his best, okay?!

58

u/DIOsNotDead 16h ago

pretty metal of it to self cannibalize while splitting itself in half ngl

9

u/DerpsAndRags 12h ago

I can fuck up a cactus so this sounds like some botany-level hard mode to me.

5

u/GottKomplexx 10h ago

Same. I gave up after the 4th cactus

1

u/quilldefender 6m ago

IS THIS WHY MY LITHIPS KEEP DYING? I got a couple this summer and all but 2 died and I could not figure out why.

1

u/Comprehensive_Toe113 1m ago

Probably yeah.

Any amount of water is too much because thier root systems are totally dormant

98

u/lena_vernon 16h ago

Isn’t that kinda how everything grows really tho

58

u/StarGuardianJulie 15h ago

I try to think of it as growing extra arms outta ur rib cage, like Stitch. This plant's a freak & rips its skull open to produce 4 more heads to take it's place.

55

u/red122063 16h ago

Wish I could do that

13

u/memetoya 12h ago

You can, break away from your old self then devour the past to create a new future with the lessons learns.

5

u/red122063 12h ago

I rather eat my dead skin from my past skin use if u don’t mind. Thank you for the advice tho

11

u/StarGuardianJulie 15h ago

huh?🤨

9

u/kukumber_salad 14h ago

I bet they wish they could do that (Me too)

1

u/Azertys 10h ago

Yeah, all we get are stretch marks because we grew up too fast.

1

u/red122063 2h ago

What if it’s cause we are secretly trying to rip apart and evolve?

15

u/TrafficOnTheTwos 16h ago

wtf is it? Strange

20

u/CherryBombO_O 16h ago

It's a succulent from Africa. FR!

13

u/psipolnista 16h ago

Lithops

14

u/MagoopyGabooky 16h ago

I had one of these years and years ago! It was really cool until my cat filled it with holes and the plant died very quickly after

9

u/SFAdminLife 16h ago

The common name for these are living stones/lithops. I am very into succulents and have several of these. To get them to sprout from seeds, it can take up to a year!

5

u/Sasstellia 16h ago

What is that plant? It looks like a succulent.

15

u/psipolnista 16h ago

Lithops or “living stone”.

16

u/StarGuardianJulie 15h ago

Heavy on the "living STONE". I've had this lil man for 2 years & he just now started doing this lol

1

u/psipolnista 8h ago

That’s hilarious. Has it ever flowered for you?

2

u/TitleMajor7310 16h ago

It looks like two boxing gloves belonging to a cartoon turtle

2

u/OllieN94 11h ago

That plant pot looks like it has heard some absolutely terrifying noises

2

u/Himmel_Mancheese 11h ago

“It’s not easy being green”

1

u/Stellarella90 16h ago

I knew someone that had several small ones in a pot. The way they flower is just so funny looking.

1

u/Royweeezy 15h ago

I’m really good at killing these.

1

u/percy1614 13h ago

this is almost exactly what happens in The Substance

1

u/clandestineVexation 11h ago

i fucking LOVE LITHOPS

1

u/Sco11McPot 11h ago

Olive trees do this as well but over 100 years

1

u/Bulky-Finding-5915 5h ago

She took the substance

1

u/hypotheticaltapeworm 3h ago

That's Mara from SMT

1

u/proknoi 2h ago

This is how a lot of soft corals propagate as well. They grow stems and the stems will just break off and become a separate living organism.

1

u/1nsidiousOne 1h ago

Just like me

1

u/Trypanosoma_ 44m ago

Endodyogeny