Crassula columnaris subsp. prolifera flowering white

This stem-tip inflorescence of Crassula columnaris subsp. prolifera comprises a multitude of white flowers, while some of the buds in picture are faintly pinkish. The flowers point in all directions like an artillery unit expecting an aerial attack, the officer in charge leaving nothing to chance.

The round-tipped corolla lobes are only slightly shorter than the cylindrical tubes. Stigmas and anthers are included in the tube, giving pollinators some work.

By bloomtime the little leaf-column may have been growing for about ten years. Flowering is for this, as for many plants an energy-sapping affair. This plant blooms once with a vengeance, its resources then totally depleted from the exercise and it dies.

A species is called semelparous if it dies after a single reproductive episode, i.e. flowering and fruiting only once. Semelparity is derived from the Latin words semel meaning once and parere meaning to bring forth young.

Monocarpic means about the same, derived from the Greek words monos meaning single and karpos meaning fruit (Grenier, 2019; Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Wikipedia).