Crassula columnaris

As veld flowers shorter than 15 cm go, Crassula columnaris is a very special sighting when one wanders in its arid countryside abode. The flowers may be cream or yellow, some say also red.

The species distribution is in the Northern Cape, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, from Namaqualand across the Little Karoo and in the Langkloof to southeast of Uniondale. It also occurs along the west coast of southern Namibia.

The habitat is stony places in clay soils. The plants change colour to a redder hue in full sun when not fortunate to hide under shrubs. Neither subsp. columnaris nor subsp. prolifera is considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Williamson, 2010; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; http://redlist.sanbi.org).