What is this plant? This is a gift for my girlfriend and I'd really like to know how she and I can take care of it.

Hi HunterSThompson,

I'm not certain but your plant reminds me of a Crassula http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Hopefully someone more familiar with succulent plants will be along shortly with a more exact ID.

To me it looks like a Crassula ovata stem cutting that is just forming new leaves, in rosettes. I would make that media grittier. Seems like there is bark mix there, I would remove that and use cacti/succulent mix, add more pumice or perlite to make media very well draining and top dress with chicker grit (insoluble crushed granite). And make sure your container has drain holes.

Thanks all! Tarev, I took out the bark and put it in a clay pot with some really gritty cactus mix. But the roots were all tangled up with the soil they originally used and there was WAY too much water, so, in my haste, I squeezed some of it out. I couldn't really get the soil off it because the roots tend to get injured because they're so fragile.

Glad you have changed the media. So wait and see...give it time to adjust to the new set-up.

Hey all! It bloomed! They don't look like Crassula ovata flowers. Whao!! Maybe this helps in ID-ing it?

Oh what a pretty yellow bloom ! Yup definitely not Crassula ovata! Hope others can chime in to id it!

Pretty! The flower reminds me of those of Portulaca

A couple hours later only...the flowers petals curled up into a little ball? What's going on? It's 2:30 p.m. Temperature is 34 celsius and RH is around 40% Sorry I know next to nothing about plants. What should I expect? Night temperatures fall to around 19 to 21 celsius with RH of 70.

It does look like a Portulaca bloom. Being shy/opening & closing is known to Portulacas. This one is a possibility, not one I've had but would love to:
ʻIhi (Portulaca molokiniensis)