MONTANA ssp. BOREALIS   Van Jaarsveld, 2015

Distribution : South Africa (Northern Cape), growing on south facing shady cliffs at about 500 m asl.

Description :

Mat-forming perennial plants, up to 8 cm tall when in flower.

Roots fibrous.

Stems with short branches, erect to decumbent, up to 25 mm long, terete, succulent, glabrous, to 2 mm thick.

Leaves spirally arranged, rarely 4-ranked, adpressed to each other, sessile, not deciduous, succulent, oblanceolate to broadly ovate, apex acute, 12 - 25 (-30) x 10 - 15 mm, upper surface flat to slightly channeled during the dry season, moderately shallowly pitted (foveate), the pits reddish purple, lower surface convex, green, becoming reddish-purple, margins with white recurved cilia of ca 0.5 mm.

Inflorescences terminal elongate spike-like thyrses, 3 - 8 cm high with several dichasia, peduncle 1.5 - 2 cm, glabrous, with up to 2 pairs of leaf-like, triangular-ovate bracts. 5 - 7 x 2.5 - 3.5 mm, minutely ciliate.

Flowers sessile, calyx 2.5 mm long, sepals triangular-lanceolate, glabrous, with distinct marginal cilia, apex subacute ending in a white translucent mucro, corolla tubular, ca 3 mm long, 2 mm in diameter, fused basally, petals ovate-lanceolate, 3 x 1.2 mm, ascending, pink, anthers yellowish green.

Flowering time : December to January.

Note :
Crassula montana ssp. borealis is named for its northern distribution compared to the other two subspecies. It is a cliff-hugger. Superficially its spotted rosettes resemble C. pseudohemisphaerica but the leaves of the latter are arranged in a dome-shaped rosette. Crassula foveata from the Eastern Cape is the only other member of section Rosulares with pitted leaves.