Crassula atropurpurea var. atropurpurea

Crassula atropurpurea var. atropurpurea, sometimes commonly called the red-purple stonecrop, is a shrublet reaching 60 cm in flower, but often only 20 cm and stemless.

The succulent, round-tipped leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, hairless and compactly arranged on the young stems. The lower leaf surfaces are convex. Leaf colouring varies, often associated with moisture availability, from more parts being red to purple in drought, particularly the margins, to more parts being green when it has rained.

The yellow or creamy yellow flowers grow on erect stems of up to 20 cm. A few sterile bracts occur on the stems. The tiny florets appear in compact clusters at stem-tips, sometimes additional, smaller clusters spaced lower down. Bloomtime is spring and early summer.

The distribution of the variety is in the Western Cape from around Worcester mainly along the Langeberg and the Swartberg Mountains to the Eastern Cape as far as Gqeberha. 

The habitat is rugged, stony slopes, cliffs and crevices where the plants often grow fully exposed in shallow, sandstone derived soils. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).