ALATA ssp. ALATA

Synonyms :

Tillaea trichopoda  Fenzl ex Boissier (1872) (nom. illeg., Art, 52,1) / Tillaea muscosa var. trichopoda  (Fenzl) Post (1896) (nom. illeg., Art, 52,1) / Crassula alata var. trichopoda  (Fenzl) Maire (1977) (nom. illeg., Art, 52,1).

Tillaea muscosa subvar. pentamera  Jahandiez & Maire (1923) / Crassula alata subvar. pentamera  (Janandiez & Maire) Maire (1977).

Crassula tripartita  N.A. Wakefield (1957).

Distribution : E. Mediterranean (Greece, Cyprus) to NE India, NE Africa S-wards to Sudan ; introduced to S Australia (Victoria, New South Wales).

Description (by E. van Jaarsveld in IHSP, 2003) :

Erect glabrous little branched annuals to 12 cm tall.

Branches slender, terete, reddish, to 0.5 mm thick, winged.

Leaves 3 - 7 x 1 - 2 mm, sessile, lanceolate, acuminate, tip aristate, white, bases of opposite leaves fused, forming a non-saccate sheath to 0.5 mm high.

Inflorescences cymose, leafy, reduced to 2 flowers per axil, pedicels to 4 mm.

Flowers 3 - 4-merous, sepals lanceolate, pale green, to 1.5 x 0.2 mm, connate at the base, tip with white bristle, petals narrowly ovate, acuminate, white, membranous, 0.8 x 0.3 mm, filaments to 0.5 mm, anthers suborbicular, yellow.