Monsonia crassicaulis stem of a young plant

The stem of a young Monsonia crassicaulis plant is pale green on its youngest part, olive green to pale brown where it has aged. First the leaves and then the spines tend to be lost from older stem parts.

Rough patches are restricted to where leaf, spine or flower had grown earlier, the rest of the stem quite smooth (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist).