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Crassula perfoliata is a succulent, evergreen subshrub from southern Africa, best known through its variety falcata (airplane plant) with sickle-shaped grey-teal leaves. It needs bright light, sharply drained soil and protection from frost.
Crassula perfoliata is the type species of the genus Crassula, in the succulent/flowering plant family Crassulaceae, where it is placed in the subfamily Crassuloideae. Formally described by Linnaeus in 1753 as one of 10 species of Crassula, the plant is endemic to Southern Africa, where it may be found in Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Crassula perfoliata var. falcata, known as the airplane plant or airplane propellers, is arguably the best-known in cultivation; this popular variety has gained the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Award of Garden Merit.
It does not tolerate freezing temperatures, thus in temperate zones, it must be grown under glass in a greenhouse during the coldest seasons, or brought indoors and kept in a very sunny southern or western window, lest they become distended and begin reaching for the sunlight, as is typical of many succulents grown indoors.
When repotting Crassula, the plants should be, preferably, potted in as loose and aerated of a substrate as can be provided. Coconut husk or fiber, potting soil, commercial orchid or cacti mixes, or organic compost are all acceptable as a base substrate, adding a small amount of earthworm castings (vermicompost) as a nutrition source; Crassula, like many succulents, are not heavy feeders and do not require intense or regular fertilisation—though it will not harm them, provided it is infrequent (monthly basis during growing season) and well-diluted. Granulated or pelleted timed-release fertilisers are additionally beneficial, only being released when the soil is wet, and thus may last for between three and six months.
It grows mainly on drier, partially exposed, lower slopes and canyon walls (for sufficient root drainage and aeration) from the Groot Winterhoek range of Western Cape to Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) and Umtata (Mthatha) in the Eastern Cape. It is found on rocky outcrops, in meadows and on inaccessible cliffs, and in river valleys where it is well protected. It is confined to outcrops of quartzite sandstone (rarely shale), from the Groot Winterhoek and Cape Fold Belt, south of Umtata to the northeast in South Africa.
Water pygmyweed · Jade Plant · Toy Cypress · Jade plant · Propeller Plant · Concertina plant · Bonsai Stonecrop · Jade Tree · Baby Pine Of China · Moss pygmyweed · Fairy Bell Plakkie · Crassula vaillantii
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crassula perfoliata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
