Crassula spathulata (Spathula-leaf Crassula) is a creeping, succulent ground-cover, indigenous to the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, where it is found in leaf-litter on rocky ridges, often around the edges of forests.

Crassula spathulata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Crassula
Species:
C. spathulata
Binomial name
Crassula spathulata
Eckl. & Zeyh.

It is common as a ground-cover in cultivation, and several different cultivars are in circulation.

Description

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Botanical illustration
 
Detail of foliage and flowers
 
Flower detail

The small, ovate-rounded, spathula-shaped leaves have definite leaf-stalks (unlike the sessile leaves of Crassula pellucida). The base of each leaf is truncate or rounded (heart-shaped), and the leaves have rounded bumps along their edges.

The thin, prostrate stems of this species are sometimes square in cross-section.

Tiny pink-white, star-shaped flowers appear on branched flower stems in autumn.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ Crassula spathulata - PlantZAfrica.com
  2. ^ Doreen Court (2000). Succulent Flora of Southern Africa. CRC Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-90-5809-323-3.