Species library › Crassula › Crassula alpestris
Succulents Well documented

Crassula alpestris

A small, clump-forming Crassula from the sandstone mountains of the western Cape, with short stems clothed in tightly stacked, triangular leaves and heads of small white flowers, sometimes tinged pink or red. It is a winter grower from a winter-rainfall climate: cool, moist and bright in winter, dry and hot in summer. Grow it cool and sunny, water it from autumn to spring and keep it on the dry side through summer.

Crassula alpestris
Photo: yakovlev.alexey from Moscow, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day Cool-growingTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on rock (lithophyte)

Where it grows wild

Rocky sandstone outcrops, crevices and gravelly mountain plateaus in fynbos and renosterveld; GBIF specimen labels mention Nardouw Sandstone Fynbos on a gentle plateau slope in the Matsikamma mountains. Plants sit in shallow, acid, very free-draining sandy grit between rocks, in open, sunny vegetation.

The records carry no elevations. They cluster in the mountain ranges between the Bokkeveld/Matsikamma and the Cederberg and Cape Peninsula, so most plants probably grow at roughly 300–1500 m; this is inferred from the localities, not measured.

Cape Provinces

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.