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

Crassula rubricaulis (Red-stem Crassula) is a succulent plant native to the coastal mountains of the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa.[1]

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).[2]

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.[3]

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.[2]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crassula rubricaulis.
Wikispecies has information related to Crassula rubricaulis.
  1. ↑ Brummitt, R. K. (2001). World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (PDF). Carnegie Mellon University: International Working Group on Taxonomic Databases For Plant Sciences.
  2. 1 2 "Crassula rubricaulis | PlantZAfrica". pza.sanbi.org. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  3. ↑ Doreen Court (2000). Succulent Flora of Southern Africa. CRC Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-90-5809-323-3.
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