Crassula argentea  Thunb.   =Crassula ovata                 =C. portulacea   Crassulaceae (Stonecrop Family)   South Africa   Jade

                                       February Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Shrub to 10 ft., oppositely regularly branching and making a symmetrical, erect, comely jointed pot-plant with a fleshy woody structure; lvs. very thick,  shining, oval or obovate or oblong-spatulate, narrowed at base but not petioled, the bases not connate; fls. in a close panicle, white or rosy-red, 5-merous, petals narrow and mucronate; calyx parted or deeply cleft; pistils 4-5, ovary 1-celled and many-ovuled.  Sometimes grown in windows and conservatories under the misleading names "Japanese laurel" and "Japanese rubber-plant," often not blooming for years.

Habitat:  Escape from cultivation.

Name:  Crassula, Latin diminutive of crassus, thick.  Latin, argenteus, of silver, silvery.  (Jaeger 25).  Crassula probably refers to the thick leaves.  The characteristic of the plant that gives the name argentea is not clear.  (my comment). 

General:  Rare in the study area, having been found only once and this on the Castaways bluffs below the spot where the old restaurant stood.  (my comments).      Species probably 250 or more, mostly S. African, a few grown under glass and in windows or planted in the open far South, mostly for their foliage and interesting habit. (Bailey 455).      Roberts in his A CHECKLIST OF THE VASCULAR PLANTS of ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Second Edition 1998, p. 74, lists the name as Crassula ovata. 

Text Ref:  Bailey 456; Roberts 74.

Photo Ref:  Feb 2 84 # 15,17.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

First Found: February 1984.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 235.

No plant specimen.

Last edit 12/17/03..

                                         February Photo