This well-developed Pleiospilos compactus subsp. canus clump shows a range of colours and shapes that the leaves may acquire.

In some cases it is hard to find the mate of a leaf, the two having started off in a pair; the small greener pairs still similar. The colour differences must be fairly age related, although some pairs differ in that as well (Smith, et al, 1998; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).