Crassula orbicularis leaves in the Little Karoo

The broadly rounded Crassula orbicularis leaves lie upon each other in a compact rosette, slightly pointed and acquiring a faint brownish purple tinge with age. The leaves succeed each other on the stem, forming decussate opposite pairs, slightly unequal in size and overlapping.

The older, lower leaves keep increasing in size, their margins spreading wider, simultaneous with small, new leaves being added at the top. This creates a mound of nearly circular, adpressed, overlapping leaves gradually reducing in size to the top. All the leaves are white-fringed by the row of tiny hair-like growths on their margins.

This is what a C. orbicularis leaf rosette can look like near Oudtshoorn north of the Outeniqua Mountains in the comparatively dry Little Karoo. But also see how it may grow on the southern, high rainfall side of the mountains near Wilderness as seen in another leaf rosette photo in this Album.

Note the stolon (runner) with a small new rosette at its end from a plant in the foreground (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).