View source for Crassula

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Crassula
|accepted_authority=Linnaeus
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Sp. Pl.
|place=1: 282. 1753
|year=1753
}}, {{Treatment/Publication
|title=Gen. Pl. ed.
|place=5, 136. 1754 ,
}}
|common_names=Pygmyweed;Latin crassus;thick;and
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Crassulaceae;Crassula
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Crassulaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Crassula]]</div></div>
|etymology=ula, diminutive, alluding to leaves
|volume=Volume 8
|mention_page=page 149, 151
|treatment_page=page 150
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-d0_s0" data-properties="whole_organism duration;whole_organism duration;whole_organism growth form or habitat;whole_organism growth form or habitat;whole_organism reproduction;whole_organism some measurement;whole_organism pubescence;whole_organism growth form"><b>Herbs </b>[shrubs], annual or perennial, aquatic or terrestrial, not viviparous, 0.1–5 dm, glabrous [pubescent].</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s1" data-properties="stem orientation;stem orientation;stem orientation;stem orientation;stem orientation;stem architecture;stem architecture;stem texture"><b>Stems </b>erect, decumbent, or spreading, simple or branching, succulent.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s2" data-properties="leaf duration;leaf duration;cauline leaf arrangement;cauline leaf architecture;cauline leaf fusion"><b>Leaves </b>persistent or deciduous, cauline, opposite, sessile, connate basally;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s3" data-properties="blade shape;blade shape;blade shape;blade shape;blade position;blade some measurement;blade texture;base architecture or shape;margin architecture or shape">blade ovate, oblong, triangular to lanceolate or oblanceolate, or linear, laminar, 0.1–7 cm, fleshy, base not spurred, margins entire, with glands (hydathodes) in submarginal rows [scattered];</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s4" data-properties="vein prominence">veins not conspicuous.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s5" data-properties=""><b>Inflorescences </b>thyrses or panicles [solitary flowers] in axils of leaves (flowers clustered when distal leaves smaller and crowded).</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s6" data-properties="pedicel presence"><b>Pedicels </b>present.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s7" data-properties="flower orientation;flower architecture"><b>Flowers </b>erect, 3–4 (–5) -merous;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s8" data-properties="sepal fusion;sepal variability">sepals connate basally, all alike;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s9" data-properties="petal orientation;petal orientation;petal fusion;petal coloration">petals spreading or recurved, distinct [connate], whitish;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s10" data-properties="calyx dehiscence;corolla dehiscence">calyx and corolla not circumscissile in fruit;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s11" data-properties="nectary arrangement or course or shape">nectaries linear [various];</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s12" data-properties="">stamens as many as sepals;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s13" data-properties="filament fusion">filaments free;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s14" data-properties="pistil orientation;pistil fusion">pistils spreading to erect, distinct;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s15" data-properties="ovary base shape">ovary base rounded;</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s16" data-properties="style size or quantity">styles 2+ times shorter than ovary.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s17" data-properties="fruit orientation"><b>Fruits </b>slightly recurved or ascending to erect.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s18" data-properties=""><b>Seeds </b>oblong or ellipsoid to reniform, ridged, sometimes also papillate.</span> <span class="statement" id="st-d0_s19" data-properties="seed shape;seed shape;seed relief;x chromosome quantity">x = 8 (secondarily 7).</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=North America;Mexico;West Indies;Bermuda;Central America;South America;Eurasia;s Africa;Atlantic Islands;Indian Ocean Islands;Pacific Islands;Australia
|discussion=<p>Bulliarda de Candolle; Tillaea Linnaeus; Tillaeastrum Britton</p><!--
--><p>Species ca. 250 (11 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p>Before A. Berger (1930) included Tillaea in Crassula, most American authors kept it a separate genus. Although I have argued for keeping it in Crassula (R. V. Moran 1992b), the matter is not closed. Based on studies still in progress, H. ’t Hart (1995) again separated Tillaea, but with data from only one species. E. J. Van Jaarsveld (2004) treated Tillaea as a synonym of Crassula.</p><!--
--><p>The annual species of Crassula fall into two sections. In sect. Glomeratae, flowers are solitary in leaf axils, with two flowers per leaf pair. In much-branched plants with leaves often smaller and crowded skyward, the greater part of the plant may fairly be called a thyrse. In sect. Helophytum, flowers seem again to be in leaf axils but for only one leaf of each pair; in fact, they are terminal, each flower ending one section of the sympodial axis (R. V. Moran 1992b, fig. 4). H. Merxmüller et al. (1971, fig. 2) suggested that Tillaea (in the broad sense of H. ’t Hart 1995) may be biphyletic; if these annuals are separated from Crassula, then, it may be best to recognize two genera, Tillaea for sect. Glomeratae and Tillaeastrum for sect. Helophytum.</p><!--
--><p>In some species, the aquatic phase may look quite different from the stranded phase, and these flimsy plants make unrevealing dried specimens. In treating the American species, M. Bywater and G. E. Wickens (1984) made good use of seed-coat structure, as shown in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs filed with specimens they studied (as of UC). They showed that the cells of the testa are in a jigsaw pattern, with more or less interlocking lobes. In Crassula connata and C. tillaea, the cell lobes are rounded, the surface smooth or minutely rugulose; C. aquatica has rounded, interlocking lobes with a minutely rugulose surface; C. longipes cell lobes are triangular, the surface rugulose; C. solieri cell lobes are triangular, the surface wax-covered; C. viridis has cell lobes rounded, surface rugose; C. drummondii has cell lobes triangular, surface smooth. My treatment here is based largely on theirs, with some changes from R. V. Moran (1992b). Without SEM, many specimens are hard to identify, and there is still much to learn.</p><!--
--><p>Many perennial African species of Crassula are grown in American collections, and some are planted outdoors in warm climates. The large, shrubby C. obovata Haworth and the subshrubby C. tetragona persist about trash heaps and old gardens in California and seem on the borderline of escaping captivity; all perennial species in the flora are introduced.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Plants perennial
|[[#key-0-2| > 2]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Plants annual
|[[#key-0-4| > 4]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Leaf blades linear to triangular; flowers 5-merous.
|[[Crassula tetragona|Crassula tetragona]]
|-id=key-0-2
|2
|Leaf blades obovate to broadly elliptic; flowers 4-merous
|[[#key-0-3| > 3]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Pedicels 8-12 mm; petals oblong-lanceolate, ca. 10 mm.
|[[Crassula argentea|Crassula argentea]]
|-id=key-0-3
|3
|Pedicels 3-8 mm; petals narrowly triangular, 3-4 mm.
|[[Crassula multicava|Crassula multicava]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Flowers (1-)2 per node; sepals slightly shorter than, equaling, or exceeding petals, apex acute to attenuate or acuminate; follicles 1-2-seeded, old follicles boat-shaped, ascending; plants terrestrial
|[[#key-0-5| > 5]]
|-id=key-0-4
|4
|Flowers 1 per node; sepals ca. 1/2 as long as petals, apex rounded to obtuse; follicles 6-17-seeded, old follicles flat, spreading; plants often aquatic, sometimes becoming stranded
|[[#key-0-7| > 7]]
|-id=key-0-5
|5
|Sepals usually 3, 1-1.5 mm, apex attenuate, apiculate; petals 0.5-1 mm.
|[[Crassula tillaea|Crassula tillaea]]
|-id=key-0-5
|5
|Sepals usually 4 or 5, 0.5-2 mm, apex acute to acuminate or mucronate; petals 0.6-1.5 mm
|[[#key-0-6| > 6]]
|-id=key-0-6
|6
|Sepals (3-)4, apex acute to acuminate
|[[Crassula connata|Crassula connata]]
|-id=key-0-6
|6
|Sepals 5, apex mucronate.
|[[Crassula colligata|Crassula colligata]]
|-id=key-0-7
|7
|Seeds papillate
|[[#key-0-8| > 8]]
|-id=key-0-7
|7
|Seeds not papillate
|[[#key-0-9| > 9]]
|-id=key-0-8
|8
|Leaf blades linear, 3-12 mm, apex narrowly acute or attenuate; seeds 0.4-0.6 mm; mountains, Arizona, Idaho.
|[[Crassula viridis|Crassula viridis]]
|-id=key-0-8
|8
|Leaf blades narrow-lanceolate, 1.5-3 mm, apex obtuse; seeds 0.2-0.5 mm; often near sea level, Colorado, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas.
|[[Crassula drummondii|Crassula drummondii]]
|-id=key-0-9
|9
|Follicles erect, oblong; sepals ovate to oblong, 0.5-1.5 mm
|[[Crassula aquatica|Crassula aquatica]]
|-id=key-0-9
|9
|Follicles ascending, obliquely lanceolate; sepals triangular-ovate to lanceolate, 0.4-1 mm
|[[#key-0-10| > 10]]
|-id=key-0-10
|10
|Seeds 0.2-0.4 mm, dull, rugulose.
|[[Crassula longipes|Crassula longipes]]
|-id=key-0-10
|10
|Seeds 0.3-0.6 mm, shiny, smooth.
|[[Crassula solieri|Crassula solieri]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Crassula
|author=Reid V. Moran
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=genus
|parent rank=family
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Crassulaceae
|distribution=North America;Mexico;West Indies;Bermuda;Central America;South America;Eurasia;s Africa;Atlantic Islands;Indian Ocean Islands;Pacific Islands;Australia
|reference=None
|publication title=Sp. Pl.;Gen. Pl. ed.
|publication year=1753;
|special status=
|source xml=https://bibilujan@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-fine-grained-xml.git/src/84153f6d59a0a91d69695978a64cee7560374f8e/V8/V8_299.xml
|genus=Crassula
|base architecture or shape=not spurred
|blade position=laminar
|blade shape=triangular;lanceolate or oblanceolate or linear
|blade some measurement=0.1cm;7cm
|blade texture=fleshy
|calyx dehiscence=not circumscissile
|cauline leaf architecture=sessile
|cauline leaf arrangement=opposite
|cauline leaf fusion=connate
|corolla dehiscence=not circumscissile
|filament fusion=free
|flower architecture=3-4(-5)-merous
|flower orientation=erect
|fruit orientation=ascending;erect
|leaf duration=deciduous;persistent
|margin architecture or shape=entire
|nectary arrangement or course or shape=linear
|ovary base shape=rounded
|pedicel presence=absent
|petal coloration=whitish
|petal fusion=distinct
|petal orientation=recurved;spreading
|pistil fusion=distinct
|pistil orientation=spreading;erect
|seed relief=papillate
|seed shape=ridged;ellipsoid;reniform
|sepal fusion=connate
|sepal variability=alike
|stem architecture=branching;simple
|stem orientation=spreading;decumbent;spreading;decumbent;erect
|stem texture=succulent
|style size or quantity=2+ times shorter than ovary
|vein prominence=not conspicuous
|whole_organism duration=perennial;annual
|whole_organism growth form=herb
|whole_organism growth form or habitat=terrestrial;aquatic
|whole_organism pubescence=glabrous
|whole_organism reproduction=not viviparous
|whole_organism some measurement=0.1dm;5dm
|x chromosome quantity=8
}}<!--

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