Crassula perforata elegance

The smooth, pale green, succulent leaves of Crassula perforata are opposite. They are not only close together, back-to-back, but fused to each other and around the stem. This creates the feature of the stem perforating the “double” leaf, spreading to opposite sides of the stem and giving cause to the specific name. Leaf pairs taper to distinct acute angled tips pointing in opposite directions. The next leaf pair, a little further up or down the stem, faces in a direction perpendicular to the first one, forming two regular arrays on the stem in an attractive display of botanical geometry. 

A stem of the branching plant can be seen here scrambling up towards sunlight with help from surrounding vegetation. The photo was taken in the Little Karoo south-west of Oudtshoorn, on a farm called Minwater (little water). The faintly red margins may become darker red once they receive full sun and in a drier season (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Van Jaarsveld, et al, 2006; Gledhill, 1981; iNaturalist).