lithops

noun

lith·​ops ˈli-ˌthäps 

plural lithops

: any of a genus (Lithops of the family Aizoaceae) of very small, stemless, succulent plants of southern Africa that typically have a pair of thickened leaves forming a stonelike body with a slit on top from which a usually solitary, sessile flower emerges

The lure of lithops begins with a double-take, the realization that these pebbles are actually plants, alive and growing.

—Debra Lee Baldwin

The lithops is a feat of botanical engineering against drought.

—Carol Schatt

called also living stone

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin, genus name, from lith- lith- + Greek -ōps "having the appearance (of the thing specified by the initial element)," form in combination of ōp-, *ṓps "eye, face" — more at eye entry 1

Note: The genus name was introduced by the English botanist N. E. (Nicholas Edward) Brown (1849-1934) in "Mesembryanthemum and some new genera separated from it" (The Gardeners' Chronicle, vol. 71, third series [January to June, 1922], p. 44): "The above generic name which I give to the plants I now separate from Mesembryanthemum is formed from the Greek words lithos, a stone, and ops, the face, on account of their resemblance in colour and appearance to the stones and pebbles they grow among."

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above