Crassula setulosa

This is a particularly hairy specimen of the variable leaf succulent, Crassula setulosa, flowering on the rocks. Some forms of the dwarf perennial are cushion-like or a dense mat, others grow multiple short flowering stems, erect and leafy. Plant size may be about 10 cm in height and 40 cm wide. Six varieties are recognised.

The spirally arranged opposite leaves taper to acute tips and vary in colour from green to red depending on rain, sun and season. Leaves may be convex or flat, sometimes with bristles or cilia fringed on the margins only. 

The species distribution is widespread in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape across the Free State and the Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal to the provinces north of the Vaal River, for example known in the Blouberg of Limpopo. It is common in Lesotho and several other countries to as far as Malawi. This plant was found flowering on the Lesotho border in KwaZulu-Natal, east of Qacha’s Nek.

The plant grows among rocks in shallow soil pockets or rock crevices on outcrops in shade or full sun, usually at altitudes above 600 m. The plant is not particular about soil type, growing in sandstone, shale, granite and basalt, adapting via form variations in different situations. The habitat population of the species is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; iSpot; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).