Lilac Spine Succulent

This short leaf succulent grows up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall. The very thick stem is burgundy, and is covered in lots of flexible lilac spines. The pebble-like leaves are either red or dark grey, with washed-out orange lines. Sparse amounts of them grow on slender, copper branches that trail down towards the ground. The leaves are fairly frail, but do not detach easily.

It is very slow growing, taking 4 years to reach maturity. Once mature, and only under the right conditions, a single flower with each petal a slightly different shade of slate grows at the top, reappearing after 4 years, but only when the conditions are right again. The flower head is shaped like a dish made up of 17 tightly layered, round-tipped petals. It has a fairly strong scent that smells like wet dog.

The leaf succulent's skin is rock-hard, the blood red flesh is leathery, and the brown sap is thin.