Succulents in the Crassula genus are some of the most popular plants that succulent enthusiasts around the world love to grow. There are over 350 species of Crassula with many of them being hybrids and cultivars.
Originally, these plants came from South Africa but they are now widely grown right around the world. And, it’s no wonder because these plants are super easy to grow even for beginners.
As long as they get around 6 hours of bright, indirect light daily and are left to dry out between watering, they’ll reward you with many years of growth. Crassula succulents are also extremely easy to propagate which may be why there have been so many different hybrids cultivated over the years.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular types of Crassula plants you can grow once you learn how to care for Crassula.
Crassula arborescens (Silver dollar jade)
This lovely jade plant has grayish-silver leaves that are rounded and almost the shape of a dollar coin. The leaves have a lovely dark red edge around them. This plant is known by many other common names such as Chinese jade, silver dollar plant, and money plant.
This variety is very drought-tolerant and can be grown outside in a rock garden if you live in an area where winters don’t get too cold. It’s also ideal for growing indoors in a nice decorative pot on a sunny windowsill. When it flowers, it has lovely clusters of pale pink star-shaped flowers.
Crassula arborescens undulatifolia (Ripple jade plant)
This is a lovely, bushy jade plant that has bluish-green leaves that are slightly twisted. It’s a dwarf variety and only grows to around three feet tall. It lends itself beautifully to clever pruning and trimming and can often be made to look like a small bonsai tree.
Crassula ‘Buddha’s Temple’
This is a cultivated hybrid that was bred back in 1959. It’s a cross between Crassula falcata and Crassula pyramidalis. It has the most eye-catching growth structure. The jade-green leaves are stacked on top of each other to form a column. In addition, the edges of the leaves fold upward and have a reddish-brown edge. Each column of leaves can grow to a height of around 6 inches. The flowers appear in spring and summer and are pink or white.
This is definitely an interesting plant to add to your collection.
Crassula capensis (Cape Snowdrop)
This is a dainty little succulent that only grows to around 8 inches tall. The green fleshy leaves are almost heart-shaped with a scalloped red edge. They grow in opposite pairs sometimes in twos and other times in fours, around the stem.
The lovely clusters of white flowers appear in winter and spring. They are white in color and have tinges of red. The flower stems are also red in color.
Crassula capitella (Red flames)
This Crassula is also commonly called ‘campfire plant’. It has propeller-shaped leaves that start out lime green and mature to a bright red color. The leaves are arranged in a rosette along fleshy stems.
This is a low-growing succulent that only reaches a height of around 6 inches. However, it can spread to a width of about 3.3 feet if allowed to. The flowers appear in clusters and are white or cream and sometimes tinged with pink.
Crassula capitella ‘campfire’ (Campfire)
When you look at this succulent, you can understand why it’s been named ‘campfire’. It has fleshy, propeller-like leaves that start out as a light green color but turn a bright red when grown in full sun.
This striking plant only grows to a height of around 6 inches but has a sprawling habit. It can spread to about 3 feet wide when grown out in the garden. In summer, plants that are grown outdoors will produce white flowers in clusters.
Crassula congesta
This is another low-growing succulent with erect stems that each have four or five pairs of thick, succulent leaves. Each stem only grows to a height of around 8 inches.
The most striking feature of this succulent is the perfectly rounded heads of white flowers that it produces on the top of each stem. The flowers are sweetly scented and each stem will die after it has finished flowering.
Crassula falcata (Propeller plant)
This interesting succulent has gray-green propeller-shaped leaves. Individual leaves can reach a length of 4 to 5 inches. But, when this plant flowers, it’s truly a sight to see. The flowers appear in large, dense clusters on the ends of the stems.
The flowers are bright orangy-red and there are masses of them in each cluster. These flowers will actually last for a full month when they appear in mid-summer. They also have a sweet, cinnamony fragrance.
Crassula mesembryanthemoides (Crassula Moon glow)
This is an interesting succulent that has green, fleshy, and hairy stems that will turn woody with age and eventually become a reddish-brown color. It’s a small growing plant that only reaches a height of around 16 inches.
The leaves are a yellowish-green color and are covered with soft recurved hairs. They have a pointed tip that is often pinkish-red.
When in flower, the plant produces small, bell-shaped flowers that are white or cream. These appear in clusters at the ends of the stems in fall and winter.
Crassula multicava (Fairy Crassula)
This is a tiny succulent that only grows to around 8 inches tall. It has small round to oval leaves that are arranged in rosettes up the stems. The leaves are light to dark green. If grown in the shade the leaves will tend to be a darker color when compared to plants that are grown in more sunlight.
When the flowers appear in winter, they form large clusters above the foliage. The flowers themselves are small, white, and star-shaped. In comparison, the buds are a lovely pink color.
Crassula ovata (Jade plant)
This is the most popular species of Crassula plant that is grown all around the world. It has jade green leaves that are tear-shaped and quite profuse. It’s extremely slow-growing and when shaped can look like a small bonsai tree.
Crassula ovata is also often referred to as the money plant and Feng Shui practitioners advise that you should place this plant in the “money area” of your home. In the 1970s it was believed that you should have one of these plants at the front door to attract wealth and also one at the back door to keep the wealth in.
This jade plant has lovely small star-shaped white-pink flowers in winter. However, it’s not all that common for this plant to flower when grown indoors.
Crassula ovata ‘Botany Bay’ (Botany Bay plant)
This popular cultivar has light green, coin-shaped leaves that have a lovely dark red edge. As with most succulents, you’ll find that the red coloring will be more pronounced during the colder weather or when the plant has been allowed to dry out for a longer period.
Crassula ovata ‘Gollum’ (Gollum jade)
As one of some common Crassula varieties, this cute little jade plant has long, thin, tubular leaves that are green with reddish-pink tips. Because the leaves tend to grow in clusters at the ends of the stems, the Gollum Jade plant is also ideal for training into a bonsai.
Crassula ovata ‘Hobbit’ (Hobbit jade)
This plant also has long tubular leaves but these open out at the end and seem to turn back on themselves. The leaves are a lovely jade color but the tips are more of a pinkish-red.
Crassula ovata ‘Minima’ (Miniature jade)
This is a dwarf jade plant and will only grow to around 2.5 feet tall. It has small lime green leaves that are slightly pointed and have a red edge. Unlike other Crassula ovata varieties, the leaves on this particular cultivar are not as dense. This makes this plant look very much like a miniature tree.
Crassula ovata ‘Pink Beauty’ (Pink jade)
This lovely jade plant has pink stems rather than brown ones. It also has lovely jade green leaves that are more widely spaced than on other varieties. This particular variety does grow to a height of 5 feet but being slow-growing, this might take a few years.
The plant also has clusters of lovely, pink star-shaped flowers in winter. These flowers are highly fragranced.
Crassula ovata ‘Skinny fingers’ (Lady fingers jade)
This jade plant gets its name from the long finger-like leaves that are jade-green and often have red tips. The leaves can grow to a length of 2 inches (5 cm). This is another slow-growing plant and rarely exceeds a height of around 3 feet.
Like many other jade varieties, this plant has tiny star-shaped flowers in white or pink and these appear in winter.
Crassula pellucida subsp. marginalis ‘Variegata’ (Calico kitten)
This is a truly delightful variegated succulent that produces leaves with dark green centers and yellow stripes towards the edges. To add to the colorful display, the leaves are also edged in a lovely blush-red color. They are slightly heart-shaped and grow in opposite pairs along slightly trailing stems. The plant only grows to a height of around 6 inches but can spread much further.
In spring and early summer, the plant can produce small white flowers but it’s the brightly colored foliage that makes this plant so special.
Crassula rupestris (Baby’s necklace)
The leaves on this lovely plant are triangular in shape rather than round or oval. In addition, the leaves are arranged in a whorl and grow on top of each other. They are a lovely shade of yellow-green with maroon edges.
Crassula tetragona (Miniature pine tree)
As the name would suggest, this succulent looks like a miniature pine tree with its needle-like leaves that are arranged around the brown, woody stems. It can grow to a height of just over 3 feet.
The leaves are apple-green in color and grow in well-spaced pairs along the upright stems. The stems are actually fleshy and not woody as their appearance would imply. The flowers on this plant appear in spring and summer and are cream to white. They grow in dense clusters at the ends of the stems.
