Crassula arborescens
A compact, tree-like succulent shrub with round, grey-blue, red-edged leaves, native to rocky hills and cliff bases in the Little Karoo and nearby dry regions of South Africa. It grows in full sun in the succulent karoo and dry mountain fynbos, where it gets modest, irregular rain and cool winters. Grow it hard, in very bright light with a cool, dry winter, to keep it compact and silver.
Where it grows wild
It grows on dry, rocky hillsides, ridges, cliff edges and bases, often on sandstone or shale. Its habitat includes succulent karoo, karroid broken veld and the transition to dry mountain fynbos. Herbarium labels note full sun, stony well-drained loam, and both north- and south-facing slopes in areas such as Oudtshoorn, Calitzdorp, Ladismith, Montagu and the Swartberg.
Few records carry an elevation. The ones that do are about 300–600 m, and the Little Karoo hills where it grows lie roughly between 200 and 1,000 m.
🔒 Growing it like that
The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:
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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.