Africa Wild Flower Book - Order Saxifragales

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Toko
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Africa Wild Flower Book - Order Saxifragales

Post by Toko »

Index to Flowers in the Order Saxifragales

Family: Crassulaceae (Plakkie Family)
Herbaceous succulent shrubs and shrublets.

Crassula perfoliata Red Crassula https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.p ... 73#p176973


Sharifa

Re: Africa Wild Flower Book - Order Saxifragales

Post by Sharifa »

Red Crassula Crassula perfoliata
Order Saxifragales. Family: Crassulaceae

Crassula perfoliata comprises four recognized variations, var. falcata no longer being one of them. But there are only two red flowering options to choose from for settling on the name of this distinctly grey-leaved garden plant: var. minor a smaller plant with grey-green (greener) leaves and var. coccinea with yellow-green leaves.

Image
Crassula perfoliata coccinea, Addo Elephant National Park

Crassula perfoliata var. coccinea is up to 1.5m tall, with red, large flowers, leaves are lanceolate, leaves.
It is an Eastern Cape endemic. It grows naturally from Port Elizabeth to King Williamstown.

Description
Crassula perfoliata var. minor is an attractive summer-flowering succulent with greyish-green sickle-shaped leaves and red flowers. It is easily grown from cuttings or seed. An erect, sparingly branched perennial succulent up to about 0.5 m high when in flower, often growing singly. The leaves are oblong-sickle-shaped, succulent, firm, up to 90 x 28 mm, arranged in opposite rows, laterally compressed, ascending-spreading and with blunt ends. They are greyish green, often with red markings, their surface is covered with dwarf rounded papillae and the leaf margins are armed with minute teeth. The older leaves are persistent on the branches. Many small flowers are densely arranged in a rounded to flat-topped inflorescence (thyrse) borne on an elongated peduncle up to 100 mm high. The bright red or pink to almost white tubular flowers are up to 7 mm long. The seeds are very small.

Conservation status
Crassula perfoliata var. minor, is not often encountered and has a limited distribution. It occurs on rocky outcrops in grassland and on inaccessible cliffs in river valleys where it is well protected. The plant is also well established in cultivation (ex situ conservation) and is grown by succulent plant growers all over the world.

Distribution and Habitat
Crassula perfoliata var. minor is confined to quartzitic sandstone outcrops (rarely shale), from the Groot Winterhoek Mountains and Port Elizabeth in the south to Umtata in the northeast. The plants grow solitary or in small clusters on north-, east- and west-facing cliffs along dry river valleys. The average daily maximum temperature in the area is about 25°C and the average daily minimum about 10°C. Winters are cooler but frost is a rarity or absent. Rainfall occurs during winter and summer and ranges from 400 to 500 mm per annum. Associated succulents in its habitat include: Cyrtanthus sanguineus, Gasteria glomerata, Haworthia gracilis var. picturata, H. viscosa, Cotyledon orbiculata, Crassula rupestris and Adromischus cristatus. Plants grow at an altitude of 250-1000 m in Fynbos- or Albany Thicket Biome.

Ecology
Crassula perfoliata var. minor flowers during summer (November to February). Plants are pollinated by butterflies and the seeds are dispersed by the wind. The plants grow on outcrops and ledges in full sun. Plants are initially solitary but may sometimes have up to three heads later. During wet conditions the leaves become very turgid and during dry spells they become flattened and tinged reddish.

Ref: Plantzafrica.com


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