Crassula rubricaulis

Crassula rubricaulis (Red-stem Crassula) is a succulent plant native to the coastal mountains of the southern Cape, South Africa.

Red-stem Crassula
Crassula rubricaulis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Crassulaceae
Genus:	Crassula
Species:	C. rubricaulis
Binomial name
Crassula rubricaulis Eckl. & Zeyh.

Description

This species can be distinguished by its fleshy, succulent leaves, which are a minimum of 2 mm in thickness. In addition, the leaves are smooth, sessile, egg-shaped (with the narrowest part against the stem), with bright red margins. The leaf normally has a faint line of hair, along its reddish margins (but the hairs tend to fall off at the leaf tip).[1]

In its growth form, C.rubricaulis becomes a small (30-50 cm), rounded, branching, perennial shrub, with smooth, red-brown stems ("rubricaulis"="red-stemmed"). The hard, brittle branches root if they lie against the ground.

It produces large numbers of white, star-shaped flowers in the middle and late Summer.

It is a close relative of the species Crassula dejecta, which also inhabits the mountains of the south western Cape.[2]

Crassula dejecta, a closely related species.

Distribution

The Red-stem Crassula occurs around the Riviersonderend and Langeberg mountains in the west, in the coastal rocky mountain shrub around Knysna and as far east as Port Elizabeth.[3]

References

1. Crassula rubricaulis - PlantZAfrica.com
2. Doreen Court (2000). Succulent Flora of Southern Africa. CRC Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-90-5809-323-3.
3. Crassula rubricaulis - PlantZAfrica.com