Crassula rupestris small leaves

In the Little Karoo there is also this unusual, small-leaved form of Crassula rupestris. The plant was photographed southwest of Oudtshoorn at Minwater. 

The leaves are not shaped and stacked quite like those of C. rupestris subsp. marnierana. They are ovoid with somewhat flattened and red demarcated upper surfaces, the keel parts rounded and bulging below, appearing freer and more spiralling than opposite.

As a strong species grows bolder, different forms of it proliferate first before natural selection retains those fittest for conditions in the emerging climatic and related living conditions.

Every new surviving form growing a unique identity is associated with its own geographical epicentre from where it may spread or not, depending on its capacity range in response to the given conditions (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist).