Synonyms:

Crassula acutifolia var. debsifolia
Crassula acutifolia var. densifolia
Crassula bibracteata
Crassula decussata
Crassula densifolia
Crassula fruticulosa
Crassula radicans
Crassula tetragona subsp. tetragona
Creusa tetragona
Sedum caffrum
Sedum tetragonum

Habitat:

Crassula tetragona is native to South Africa, where it thrives on the south-western mountains. Its habitat are dry fynbos, with renosterbos vegetation. The Fynbo is one of the most diverse ecoregion on Earth. It includes various rainfall amounts and plant species, and it is characterized by the peculiarity to be adapted to fire, and to depend on it for soil nutrients and for the maintainance of its regular combination of species.

Description:

Crassula tetragona is a succulent shrub, erect or more or less prostrate and much-branched, up to 1 meter in height. Its stems are succulent and upright when young, later developing a brown, peeling bark. When they fall on the ground surface, in a more decumbent attitude, they might put some roots to propagate the species agamically. Leaves are succulent, slender, elongated but slightly hull-shaped, bright green in colour. They are regularly lined up upon the stem in vertical rows, paired in two opposite couples, so that the overall aspect of the single stem looks tetrangular: that’s the reason for the species name “tetragona”, which means precisely “4-angled”. In addition about the leaves: they are slightly pointed and deciduous, 1 to 5 centimeters long. In Summer, the blooming season, the inflorescence, which is a cyme borne on an elongated stalk, develops on the plant, towering over it, characterized for being flat-topped and to have the central flowers open first, followed by the peripheral ones. The single flowers, in C. tetragona, are small (a few millimeters wide), creamy white, with microscopic elliptic petals.

Cultivation:

Crassula tetragona is not so difficult to cultivate. Here below are our tips:

The best exposure is in full sun or semi-shade. By the way, intense direct sunlight should be avoided during the Summer. During the rest of the year, place it in a sunny spot. 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 tetragona 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. In frost-free areas, by the way, Crassula tetragona can stay outdoors even during the Winter.
Provide a good ventilation rate, as this species doesn’t like stagnant air.
Water your Crassula tetragona 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: a succulent mix will do good for your Crassula tetragona.
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 tetragona grows pretty fast, but, once reached the pot’s dimension, it can stay in the same one for many years. Choose a shallow pot to host its fibrous roots properly. To ensure, however, the proper input of fresh soil, repotting should be carried out once a year.

Propagation:

Crassula tetragona can be easily propagated through the removal of the offshoots, by removing a lateral one and planting it in a sandy, porous mix. Also stem cuttiings should be placed in a similar medium, and moisted every 3-4 days. The time required to root is usually 2-3 weeks. Cuttings are easy to realize and thus we recommend this method, instead of sowing, that can be more tough with this species. Also leaf cuttings are a viable method. Seeds, instead, have to be sown in Autumn.

Curiosity:

The genus name “Crassula” comes from the Latin crassus, that means fat. All Crassulas are unpretentious plants, with a high vegetative strength: for this reason, they are sometimes used for air purification indoors, in bedrooms and offices, due to its capacity to eliminate harmful and polluting particles from the atmosphere. Crassula tetragona was one of the first succulent plants to be grown in Europe, having been described by Linneus in 1753. It takes its species name “tetragona” because of its leaves, arranged in two opposite pairs on the stem and creating a four-angled appearance. There are some uncertain evidences about an eventual traditional use of C. tetragona as a medicinal plant, boiled in milk, as a remedy for diarrhoea.

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