Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)

Jade Plant (Crassula ovata syn. Crassula argentea, Crassula portulacea) is a large well-branched, compact, rounded, evergreen shrub 1-3 m tall with glossy, dark grey-green, oval, succulent leaves and rounded heads of pink flowers in winter-spring. The stem is stout and gnarled and gives the impression of great age, and its branches are also short and stubby but well-proportioned. Branches are succulent, grey-green in colour and in older specimens the bark peels in horizontal brownish strips.

The leaves are 30-90 mm long and 18-40 mm wide, egg-shaped to elliptic, often with a red margin and a somewhat pointed end. They are in opposite pairs, the one pair arranged at right angles to the next, and they are clustered towards the ends of the branches. The bush is covered in masses of sweetly scented, pretty pale-pink, star-shaped flowers in tight rounded bunches during the cool winter months (June-August). The flowers develop into small capsules, each holding many tiny seeds.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Order : Saxifragales
Family : Crassulaceae
Genus : Crassula
Species : Crassula ovata

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Crassulaceae (krass-yoo-LAY-see-ay) - The Crassula family, so named because of the thick leaves.
• Crassula (KRASS-oo-la) - Somewhat thickened foliage; diminutive of the Latin crassus (thick, fleshy).
• ovata (oh-VAY-tuh) - Ovate in shape.

Common Names:

• Jade Plant, Jade Tree, Money Tree, Dollar Plant, Friendship Tree

Links:

• Plantz Africa - Jade Plant
• Succulent Plant Page - Jade Plant
• The Liverpool Branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society - How to grow Jade Plant

Image Courtesy of Joey Ignacio.

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