Synonyms:

No synonyms are recorded for this species name.

Habitat:

Crassula cv. Dorothy is a nursery cultivar, and thus it doesn’t exist in nature. Crassulas, in general, are native to South Africa, where they inhabit semi-arid and rocky areas.

Description:

Crassula cv. Dorothy is a dwarf succulent plant with a very high decorative potential. It would fit perfectly the shelf of an office or of a living room. This cultivar is a hybrid between Crassula susannae and Crassula deceptor. It has thick rosettes, made of densely crowded succulent leaves growing in opposite pairs on the stems, which are very small and reduced. It tends to form clumps of rosettes, crowded on the pot, and the leaves arrangement of the single rosette makes it look like a flower, so that your pot will end up to look like a green, succulent bouquet! In Autumn, yellow flowers appear at the top of elongated, succulent stems. Flowers are very small, so that their petals are hardly distinguishable. Being a hybrid, seeds are often sterile or might give birth to a variable progeny.

Cultivation:

The best exposure is in full sun or semi-shade. By the way, intense sunlight enhances the bright red tinges of its leaves, so we advice to put it in a bright spot. Avoid a direct exposure during the hottest hours of summer days. Shade should be only occasional, as plants grown in full shade tend to become more fragile, to loose leaves and turn on a paler colour.
To stay safe, it’s better to keep your Crassula cv. Dorothy indoors in Winter or at least to shelter it, if you live in a temperate climate area and you choose to grow it outdoors. Crassulas in general, in fact, should never grow at temperatures below 7 ° C though, in theory, Crassula cv. Dorothy should survive to temperatures down to -5ºC
Water your Crassula cv. Dorothy every 2-3 days in Spring and Summer during the growth season. By the way, if you forget, the plant will survive. Wait for the soil to dry up completely before each watering. Watering slightly more frequent in spring may encourage flowering. In autumn and winter, the watering can be reduced up to be completely suspended.
Choose a porous and well drained substrate, fed with plenty of well-rotten compost. An acidic substrate is the ideal for Crassula cv. Dorothy.
Fertilization can be done once the growth season, diluting a product specific for succulents with water at half the doses recommended on the label.
Crassula cv. Dorothy has a slow growth rate and will stay okay in the same pot for years. To ensure, however, the proper input of fresh soil, repotting should be carried out once a year.

Propagation:

Crassula cv. Dorothy can be easily propagated through the removal of the offshoots, by removing a lateral one and planting it in a light, well-drained soil. The time required to root is usually a month. Cuttings are easy to realize and thus we recommend this method, instead of sowing, that can be more tough with this plant.

Curiosity:

The genus name “Crassula” comes from the Latin crassus, that means fat. The crassula is an unpretentious plant, with a high vegetative strength: for this reason, it is sometimes used for air purification indoors, in bedrooms and offices, due to its capacity to eliminate harmful and polluting particles from the atmosphere. This particular cultivar is a probably spontaneous crossing and it’s named after Dorothy Dunn from San Diego, who was an employee of a cactus nursery.

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