Scientific Name

Crassula dejecta Jacq.

Common Name

Doily Crassula

Synonym

Crassula alba, Crassula albiflora, Crassula microsquamata, Crassula undulata, Curtogyne albiflora, Curtogyne dejecta, Curtogyne undata, Curtogyne undosa, Curtogyne undulata, Rochea albiflora, Rochea dejecta, Rochea undulata

Scientific Classification

Family: Crassulaceae
Subfamily: Crassuloideae
Genus: Crassula

Origin

This species is native to South Africa.

Description

Crassula dejecta, also known as Crassula undulata, is a densely branched succulent shrublet that grows up to 16 inches (40 cm) tall. Leaves are slightly fleshy, green, often tinged red, with a row of rounded, bead-like hairs on the margins that give the leaves a silvery edge. They are opposite, more or less the same length on the whole plant, and arranged densely in neat rows up the erect stems, giving a tidy, geometric effect. There are also small, downward-pointing hairs on the young branches that give the stems a silvery dusting. Flowers are white, sometimes tinged pink, with red sepals, red ovaries that color the center of the open flowers red, and red anthers that age to brown. They are carried in tight, flat to round-topped clusters at the ends of the branches during midsummer. The flowers develop into small capsules, each holding many tiny seeds.