Crassula sericea var. sericea

Crassula sericea var. sericea is a much-branched leaf succulent that reaches 20 cm in height. When the leaves look swollen as some of them do in the picture, the plant is not experiencing moisture shortage. Regular summer drought will cause a flattening and wrinkling of the leaves when stored resources become depleted. This is already starting to happen to some of the leaves here.

The leaves of C. sericea var. sericea often have red, brown or purple lines along the margins of the tips. This line may be either straight when the leaf is flat, or angled when the leaf is keeled outside, concave on the inside. The chunky leaf body has a grey surface, appearing to be velvety. Leaves that break from the plant, which easily happens from even a small disturbance, are likely to take root where they land if a little soil is available.

The C. sericea species comprising three varieties is distributed in the Richtersveld and southern Namibia, eastwards in the Gariep River valley as far as Kakamas.

The cliff-dwelling shrublets grow in succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo and desert at different elevations, sometimes shaded by rocks. The habitat population of the species overall is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. The survival status in terms of population number trends of the three varieties is unknown (iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).