Crassula orbicularis early inflorescence

This top-heavy Crassula orbicularis inflorescence grows on a coastal form of the plant near Wilderness in the southern Cape. The reddish flower stalk arises from the centre of the leaf rosette.

The flowers to open from these clustered green buds will be creamy white and tubular, about 4 mm long. There is a (presumably inland) form with dark buds and maroon flowers. The flowers grow in spaced, dense umbels on short stalks up the stem. Small bracts grow opposite each other on the lower stem parts, also subtend the opposite branches that carry the umbels.

The flowers bear a musty smell, are pollinated mainly by flies. Flowering occurs from winter to early summer, peaking in spring. The minute brown seeds are distributed by wind (Moriarty, 1997; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).