Crassula umbella realities

The flat Crassula umbella leaf resembles a dance floor inviting fairies. They could perform in celebration of the central cluster of flower buds presented in wedding cake form; in minds prone to conjuring that sort of imagery. Or a memory might appear that C. umbella leaves sometimes grow in pairs with scalloped margins… and the eye checks the next plant for clues. But do they grow several pairs on one stem?

Stretching reality to fit either scientific rigour or fantasy make-believe happens in minds confronted by nature. Both trends emanate from experience and mood. Neither remains fixed in consciousness and neither exists in the real world beyond human fabrications.

An urge might appear for checking the plant for subspecies, or for considering how flying saucers developed stalks and flowers (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Smith et al, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist).