English: Stonecrop.
Synonym: Tillaea umbellata
Region: South Africa.
Habitat: Succulent Karoo, Fynbos; sandy soils, on gravelly slopes; rarely in shaded
Flowers in spring.
Plants growing in exposed positions often form an almost flat disc, but if conditions change subsequently, the younger internodes will elongate.
Crassula umbellata is a therophyte, a plant that survives unfavourable seasons in the form of seeds only.
More.
BotanyHerb; erect; dwarf; green to reddish; annual;succulent; 2 to 6 mm tall, to 3 cm after rain.
Roots: fibrous.
Stem: spreading branches; 2 to 4 cm long; usually appressed to the ground; glabrous; sometimes nearly stemless with internodes not elongating.
Leaves: 2 to 4 mm long, 1 to 4 mm wide; spatulate, rhombic, triangular to obovate; sessile, subsessile or shortly petiolate to 2 mm obtuse; abruptly constricted towards the base; covered with papillae on upper surface; often convex above; green to reddish brown;upper leaves crowded in a rosette below the infloresce.
Inflorescences: thyrses; single dichasium.
Flowers: cup-shaped; cream to pinkish; minuscule; pedicel 3 to 10, to 15 mm long; 4-merous, sessile at first and pedicel elongating when fruiting; blooming July to October.
Calyx: lobes oblong, 0.7 to 1 mm long; fleshy; green to brown.
Corolla: cup-shaped; cream tinged red; lobes ovate, to 1 mm bluntly acute, erect to somewhat recurved.
Androecium: stamens oblong-cuneate, ± 0.4 mm long, 1 to 2 mm wide; truncate or rounded; gradually constricted downwards, almost membraus, white; anthers yellow.
Seeds: 6-8, released through apical pore of follicles.