Crassula multicava

Fairy crassula
Crassula multicava leaves and flowers
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Crassulaceae
Genus:	Crassula
Species:	C. multicava
Binomial name
Crassula multicava Lemaire.
Synonyms[1]
Crassula quadrifida

Crassula multicava is a perennial succulent plant from the family Crassulaceae. It is also known under various English common names including the fairy crassula, pitted crassula and London pride.^{[citation needed]} In Zulu, it is known as umadinsane,^[2] one of several plants known by this name.^[3]

Description

It is a moderate to fast growing, mat-forming plant that features buxom, oval to round and deep green, opposite leaves, with one cultivar ('Purple Dragon') having purple undersides. The plant blooms in winter in its native habitat with white to pinkish starry flowers with four petals and four sepals. It reaches an average height of 15 cm, but would reach 30 cm.^[4]

Cultivation

Used as a groundcover, the plant is resistant to droughts and low temperatures above −3 °C. It also resists the lack of light and is a shade lover, but that can negatively affects its color or the quality of the flowers. Self-seeding, it can also be multiplied by cuttings. They also propagate themselves by producing plantlets on the flower head that fall off and grow into independent plants. Due to its small size, it can be grown in pots in well-composted, clay soils.^{[5][page needed]}

Distribution

The fairy crassula is a native of South Africa, particularly the mountainous regions of Natal, Eastern and Southern Cape. There, it is found in forest margins, river and stream banks, and in coastal and subtropical thickets.^{[6][page needed]}

Gallery

• 
  Bunch of flowers
• 
  Habitat with emerging flowers
• 
  Leaves close up
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  Growing in Barlovento, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
• 
  Flowers close-up
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  Whole plant with flowers
• 
  Blushed leaves

References

1. Registry-Migration.Gbif.Org (2019). "Crassula quadrifida Bak.fil". GBIF. GBIF Secretariat. doi:10.15468/39omei. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
2. Hutchings, A., Scott, A.H., Lewis, G. & Cunningham, A.B. 1996. Zulu medicinal plants: an inventory. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. p. 114.
3. Hutchings, A., Scott, A.H., Lewis, G. & Cunningham, A.B. 1996. Zulu medicinal plants: an inventory. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg. p. 413.
4. Crassula multicava iGarden, Home of the Compulsive Gardener
5. Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds) 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
6. Powrie, F. 1998. Grow South African Plants. A gardener's companion to indigenous plants. National Botanical Institute, Cape Town.

External links

• Close-up picture