South Africa's succulents - small, fleshy, green plants sometimes shaped like roses or stars, and often found peeping out between rocks in dry areas - are sought after by an increasingly international collector market. The popular Conophytum, Lithops and Tylecodon are part of the group of rare and aesthetically unique succulents which are now being illegally traded all over the world. Since 2019, over 1 million succulent plants from 650 species unique to South Africa have been illegally harvested in South Africa. As social scientists who have extensively researched conservation conflicts, community centred conservation and the illegal wildlife trade, we set out to uncover the supply chains and people involved in the global succulent trade, and reach conclusions about how the trade could be curtailed.