Bizarre Succulents

Pseudolithos migiurtinus Jabba the Hut succulent with fuzzy ears (c) Debra Lee Baldwin

To me, a bizarre succulent is one that suggests something it’s not in an eerie way—i.e. a cancerous growth, reptile or body part. When I take a second look and ponder what on earth it is, I experience a deliciously unsettling ah-ha (or bwa-ha-ha) moment.

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Professor Mordant’s Sea-Sand Succulents

Bizarre succulents

Every year as Halloween approaches, I recall my visit to Professor Mordant’s remote island to tour his collection of sea-sand succulents. The island was rumored to be an eerie, inhospitable place—a volcanic outcropping devoid of vegetation, nothing like the mainland resort where I and other garden photojournalists had been sunning ourselves in style. I alone…

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