Curio crassulifolius or blue fingers

Curio crassulifolius used to be known scientifically as Senecio crassulifolius and Kleinia crassulifolia at different stages in its botanical history. There is also a historical issue with the spelling of the specific epithet: older records have it as crassulaefolius. Both of these forms indicate leaf resemblance with some plants in the Crassula genus.

The leaves are fleshy, cylindrical and spindle-shaped, pointing upwards and inwards in attractive rosette-like clusters around the tops of the branched stems. Leaf colour is blue-green or green to yellow-green when older.

The flowerheads are white or yellow and occur in clusters above the leaves. Flowering happens from before midwinter until early spring.

The picture was taken at Kirstenbosch. The species name was found in the Bartholomeusklip Plant List (a reserve to the north of Wellington in the Boland).

The habitat is at least partly fynbos (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Wikipedia).