Which Crassulae do I have here (references re. pyramidalis & friends) Solved

[MatDz]

For some time already I am looking for a written reference (online or maybe a book photo/scan, I was referred to G. Rowley's "Crassula. A grower's guide" as the best currently available resource about Crassulae) on the third Crassula I have below. The right hand one is a "classic" C. pyramidalis, on the left is a Buddha's Temple cultivar, but what do I have in the middle? It is sometimes referred to as "quadrangula" or "quadrangularis" (or even the opposite, pyramidalis is referred to as quadrangularis...), but the only reference to this name I found states it's merely a synonym to pyramidalis.

Given the size, a C. pyramidalis f. media ("f." stands for a "form" I believe?) looks promising, but I am wondering if someone in possession of G. Rowley's book I mentioned above, or any other really, could provide a photograph of the few pages covering these 3 plants?

Edit (before the photo for visibility): Also, does anyone know if the slides from the talk "Crassulas everywhere" by Derek Tribble are available anywhere? I found a great review of it here: https://www.southampton.bcss.org.uk/docs/Bcss0813.pdf

[johno]

hi the one on the left is crassula buddha,s temple. the other two i have the same and called pyramidalis
johno

[edds]

http://www.crassulaceae.ch/de/artikel?a ... P&aID=1861

This site and the PDF linked to on that page might be useful.

[ChrisR]

As with most Crassula taxa, pyramidalis is extremely variable across it range, so your two example are simply two different forms.

The name quadrangularis is referable to Crassula montana as C.montana subsp.quadrangularis, so nothing to do with pyramidalis........and quadrangula is simply an old synonym of pyramidalis.

I don't think Rowley's guide is the best resource for the Crassula enthusiast MatDz. It may be a pretty picture book but there are many mistakes of captions and text. It's usually really expensive if you can find one and poor value IMO.

Most serious Crassula students and growers use H.R.Tölken's 1977 2 volume "A Revision of the genus Crassula in Southern Africa" and his subsequent 1985 volume 14 of the "Flora of Southern Africa - Crassulaceae". Copies of both are inexpensive and sometimes available online.

A good online resource for Crassula is this; http://www.crassulaceae.ch/de/artikel?a ... D=2&aiID=A

This is a useful list of sections and species; http://www.crassulaceae.ch/uploads/file ... ctions.pdf

I hope that helps.

[MatDz]

Thank you all for useful info and links! Seems like the middle one can simply be the "f. medio" I linked to, so just a different form of pyramidalis. I'll definitely read all the http://www.crassulaceae.ch materials, a quick glance was enough to tell it's a lot of quality information there.

And the C. montana subsp. quadrangularis just landed on my search list, maybe one day...

Edit: Had to accept one answer to mark the thread as solved, so went for the longest one

[MikeT]

Most serious Crassula students and growers use H.R.Tölken's 1977 2 volume "A Revision of the genus Crassula in Southern Africa" and his subsequent 1975 volume 14 of the "Flora of Southern Africa - Crassulaceae".

The Flora is 1985, which means Tolken could publish it subsequently without needing a time machine

[ChrisR]

Ha....trust you to pick up on that typo - what happens with a bang on the head

[MikeT]

Have to do my bit to try and keep you in order, Chris

[Tony R]

Nice one, Dr. T. !

[Terry S.]

Tolken's books are not an easy read and I certainly wouldn't recommend them to a beginner with the genus. There are keys, good descriptions, and info about distribution, variability, etc. but it is very difficult to imagine what a plant looks like without any photographs and a minimum of line drawings.