Succulent ID

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Mike P
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Mike P »

I do have a C arborescens and it does have thicker leaves but overall has similar colouration as the plant above although the leaves on the arborescens are rounder. The unlabelled plant is faster growing. Luckily the ink hasn't dried yet.......
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Liz M »

I would go along with Ralph, Crassula arborescens ssp undulatifolia. As Mike says, it is a bit of a poor specimen, if it has been under a bench all winter. You can see the waviness of the leaves and the colour is blue, with some good pruning and more TLC this would become a plant to be proud of and not hidden under a bench. Probably due to lack of room on top, I have a similar problem.
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Terry S. »

Apologies for the earlier cryptic comment. The Bradleya article (P 87 - 105) by Gideon Smith would confirm the ID as C. arborescens subsp. undulatifolia. Surely Apicra is not wrong on his crassulas? C. ovata is retained for the plants with bright green unspotted leaves.
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Phil_SK »

They outline the reasons that they doubt this commonly cultivated clone is C. arborescens ssp undulatifolia in a couple of paragraphs starting at the end of p96. Briefly, the leaves are too long and not wavy enough. That said, it certainly has distinctly arborescens characters: bluish leaves [cf green or yellowish green for ovata], rounded leaf tips [usually mucronate] although the flowering period, confused as it might be by cultivation, matches better with ovata (mid- to late-winter) than it does for arborescens (early- to mid-summer).
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Stuart
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Stuart »

I'm sure Derek's correct, he knows South African plants much better than most of us I should have looked closer at the photo, here's my C.Arborexcens, much thicker leaves and a distinct silvery blue colour with a pink edge in good light.
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by BryanW »

I blame Mike for starting this debate :lol:
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Mike P
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Mike P »

So treating it as a summer grower and withholding water from October to March may not be doing it any favours? It could be awarded a place on the path next winter which would afford it better light rather than being warehoused under the staging....
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by BryanW »

Hi Mike, It might resolve it's current identity crisis :cool:
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Apicra »

A photo of the whole plant would certainly help with identification.

I'm not sure the Bradleya article does help here. The authors express doubt about equating Crassula 'Blue Bird' (='Blue Wave'?) with C. arborescens subsp. undulatifolia and I can agree with that.

Latin names are for plants from habitat. Toelken published undulatifolia for a very restricted eastern form of C. arborescens from the Winterhoekberge inland from Port Elizabeth and documented material is very scarce in cultivation. I've never seen it in the veld. He distinguished it on the basis of narrower elliptic leaves 0.8-1.5 (-2) cm broad with an undulate margin and also a distinct flowering period of Dec/Jan in South Africa. This contrast with the western C. arborescens flowering in Oct-Dec and the eastern C. ovata flowering in Jun/Aug. As part of his detailed 1977 revision descriptions, he says arborescens has a rounded leaf apex usually not mucronate, whereas ovata has a pointed or mucronate apex. Also arborescens has bracts on the dichasia longer than 2 mm, whereas ovata has them shorter than 2mm (and generally more smaller flowers).

Coming from the east, summer watering would be not too dissimilar to the year-round sparse rainfall it probably receives.

Best wishes,
DT
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Mike P
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Re: Succulent ID

Post by Mike P »

Thanks all.
When the plants filling the path are evicted for their Spring / Summer outdoors something next month I will be able to reach the plant in question and take a better photo.
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