Crassula

SMUTSII  Schönland, 1929

Synonym : Globulea atropurpurea var. smutsii  (Schönland) P.V.Heath (1995) 

Section Globulea

Etymology : Named for General Smuts.

Distribution : SA, nordfacing aspects of the Swartberg as well as on the Langeberg and Tsitsikamma Mountains.

 

Description :

Stem woody at the base, creeping to ascending,ca 5 mm thick, bare.

Branches with few leaves, ca 5 cm long.

Leaves grey, glabrous or minutely pubescent, almost flat above and convex below, often indistinctly carinate, oblanceolate or oblong-linear, subacute, 2.75 cm long and 5 - 6 mm broad.

Peduncle terminal, cymose-capitate, trifurcate, ca 15 cm long, glabrous, green at base, reddish above, minutely pubescent, bracts similar to leaves but much smaller.

Inflorescence ca 12 mm thick, flowers subsessile, calyx outside pubescent, tube ca 1.5 mm long, sepals ca 1.5 mm long, oblong, obtuse, thick, convex dorsally, petals white, shortly connate,  dorsally and at margins puberulent, panduriform, 2.75 mm long.

Flowering time : August - October.

 

Listed by Tölken (1977 & 1985) as synonym of Crassula atropurpurea var. atropurpurea, reinstated as an independent species by N.H.G. Jacobsen in ALOE 54(1): 17-21. 2018.

 

Swartberg Pass :

Photos Niels Jacobsen

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