Crassula tecta syn. Crassula decipiens

Crassula tecta, commonly called "Lizard Skin Crassula", is a diminutive and attractive grey-leaved succulent that is easy to grow and makes a great potted plant in cultivation. The leaves are opposite, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, rounded, and covered with densely hard white-tipped papillae, grey-green in color, up to 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long and up to 0.6 inch (1.5 cm) broad. The flowers are tiny, white, 5-petalled cups, each petal up to 0.16 inch (4 mm) long and recurved at the tip, and the anthers are yellow. Crassula tecta is a perennial succulent, branching from the base, forming a dense rosette of highly succulent leaves reaching a height of about 50 mm. The leaves of all Crassula species are typically opposite and stacked at right angles to the pair above and below, and although not always obvious, this is also true of C. tecta. Unique to the genus, the leaves of this species are covered in white papillae giving them a grey or whitish appearance. They are essentially slightly flattened oblong cylinders with blunt rounded tips. In the eastern end of its distribution the leaves are more flattened and are keeled along the edge and tip. The thin fibrous semi-succulent stem is short and gives way to a shortly branched root system well adapted to growing in very shallow soils. This curious dwarf species is somewhat more succulent than other members of the genus Crassula. It adopts a curious survival strategy by camouflaging itself with a rough, white, frosty coating on its leaves that not only allows it to effectively blend in with its gravelly environment but also makes it somewhat unpalatable to animals. In the wild, crassula tecta can be found growing on gentle lower slopes, often in gravel; found in the Cape Province, mainly in the Little Karoo from near Montagu to Oudtshoorn, also from near Willowmore and Steytlerville (South Africa).

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  Full sun

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  Very little water

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  Not Frost hardy

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  Light and free draining