Are these Crassulas both the same?

[iann]

They both appear to be Crassula saxifraga. Flowers start to appear in late summer before the leaves. They are stubbornly different from eachother though, despite all attempts to grow them in the same conditions.

The short plant in particular has been suffering a little in the heat this week even in an open cold frame. Both die back very quickly when it gets warm. Hopefully they've made it through this spell and will hang on for another month or so.

[Terry S.]

What they are not is Crassula saxifraga, which is autumn-flowering with tubular flowers. They are more likely to be C. umbella, which usually has cream-coloured flowers. However, I have a collection from Leipoldt's Grave on Pakhuispas which has pure white flowers on fairly short plants. The description in Tolkoen indicates that white flowers do occur rarely.

[iann]

They're not flowering now. Flowers above in September.

Flowers from the low plant, taken in October. The flowers are slightly different, don't know if it amounts to anything.

saxifraga-1017.jpg (33.87 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

[Terry S.]

Yes, the tubular flowers in the lower image do have the shape of C. saxifraga which can vary in colour from light pink to quite a rich magenta. I am not sure about the upper one because the flowers are barely open. If the petals open widely then it will be C. capensis.

[ralphrmartin]

I defer to your far superior knowledge, Terry, but in my (so-called) C. umbella, the leaves are round, and the flower stalks come straight out of their centres, at least apparently. They don't look like the pictures above, but like this

https://worldofsucculents.com/crassula-umbella/

[iann]

It originally came to me as a possible C. capensis, but I had all but ruled it out because the flowers appear before the leaves, have not opened widely for me, and have only five petals. Here is about as wide as I've seen them, still very much tubular.

[Terry S.]

First, the question about C. umbella. That species has a very wide distribution, but in most localities they have two separate leaves as you can see under that species in Gordon's Crassula book. However on the granitic Kamiesberge which is in the north of its range, C. umbella has leaves that are completely fused into a disc such that it almost looks rather like Tylecodon singularis before it flowers.

Seeing the additional image with the rotate flowers, I am happy that Ian's plant is C. capensis (it didn't come from Lemoenkloof did it?). Most C. capensis does flower in the autumn before the leaves develop properly, but a variant from the Cape Peninsula ssp. promontorii is spring-flowering on well-developed leaves.

[ChrisR]

I think Ian's plants are C.saxifraga.......apart from the colour difference, compare to this which I believe is C.capensis with much more open flowers as Terry suggests. I'm sure DT will have an opinion on this.

[iann]

Pink Snowdrops?

[ralphrmartin]

Thanks for the clarification, Terry.