Crassula sladenii

Crassula sladenii is a scrambling, branching, succulent shrub that reaches about 40 cm in height.

The leaves are thickly succulent, ovate to oblong and tapering to slight obtuse tips, nearly rounded. The margins are bright red and there are tiny red dots scattered on the leaf surfaces. Leaf colour is yellowish, tinged with orange and green, but pale bluish at other times. Leaves are sessile, growing in opposite pairs.

The species distribution is in the far northwest of the Northern Cape near the Gariep (Orange) River mouth in the Richtersveld and across the river in southwestern Namibia. This specimen was photographed near Alexander Bay.

The plant grows among rocks on exposed slopes in desert conditions. The species is considered endangered in habitat early in the twenty first century, due to mining, overgrazing, trampling and possibly the disappearance from the terrain of shade provided by bigger shrubs (Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).