| 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. | |
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]
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 (now Crassula undulata ), which also inhabits the mountains of the south western Cape. [3]
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]
