About Crassula subaphylla (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Harv.
Crassula subaphylla (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Harv. is a small, variable shrublet that ranges from dense to sparse and straggly. It grows between 15 and 30 cm tall, reaching up to 60 cm tall when scrambling through other vegetation, and forms numerous brownish stems and branches. Its mature branches are thin, wiry, brittle, woody and twiggy, usually growing decumbent, with flaking strips of bark. Younger branches are slightly velvety (puberulous), reddish-brown, and fleshy. Leaves are widely spaced along branches, with internodes measuring 0.5 to 1 cm, and occasionally up to 3 cm. Leaves vary in shape, hairiness, and colour, ranging from greyish-green or reddish-green to yellow-green. They are distinctively pointed, conical, and lanceolate-linear, measuring 5 to 23 mm long and 4 to 8 mm in diameter, and break off easily. This species flowers from spring to mid-summer, producing thyrses up to 8 cm tall that hold numerous dichasia. Its flowers are cream-coloured with brown anthers, tubular, panduriform, and reach up to 5 mm in size. The petal tips have distinctively recurved membranous wings on both sides. It occurs in the Succulent Karoo and Nama Karoo regions of South Namibia and the Republic of South Africa.
