Crassula muscosa variety

These thick, pointed, green Crassula muscosa leaves were seen in Goegap. The species encompasses much leaf colour and shape variation. The four vertical arrays of leaves dont adhere to the stems much in picture.

The leaves look larger than the tiny ones of C. muscosa var. parvula and may not be as obtusely tipped as one would expect in var. obtusifolia, previously known as var. rigida. C. muscosa var. polpodacea grows in the Eastern Cape among dense shrubs in river valley scrub vegetation, not expected here. C. muscosa var. muscosa is widely distributed, known in the northwest among the Namaqua Klipkoppe (rock heads) but also as far away as the eastern parts of the Little Karoo, not quite what were observing here.

Of the four extant options, this plant seems most likely to belong to var. obtusifolia (Smith, et al, 1997; iNaturalist; www.crassulaceae.ch).