What are the characteristics of plants in the Crassulaceae family? Detailed introduction

Many flower lovers have grown succulents, and the succulent lineup is very powerful. Among them, the most famous is the Crassulaceae family. Crassulaceae plants are distributed across most of the Northern Hemisphere, with a great variety of species, about 35 genera and more than 1500 species, and China has 10 genera and about 240 species. Crassulaceae plants are short in stature, and because they are succulent, they use very little water and fertilizer, so they are extremely easy to grow and view. So what characteristics do plants in the Crassulaceae family have?

1. Adromischus

Native to South Africa and Namibia. The plants are mainly distributed in South Africa and Namibia. Perennial herbs, with very short stems, the plants are usually short, generally under 20CM, the leaves are fleshy and thick, the leaf surface often has spots or is covered with dense hairs, the leaf margins are wavy and twisted, flowering is difficult, the fleshy leaves are alternate, the lifespan is extremely long, and it is often not easy to collect seeds.

2. Cotyledon

Much branched, upright fleshy dwarf shrubs. Leaves opposite, obovate, margins wavy, leaf surface hairy or covered with wax, bell-shaped flowers, bright colors. Flowers in spring and summer, cymose panicles, the inflorescence is about 45 cm tall, the small flowers are tubular and drooping, about 2.5 cm long, generally orange-yellow with red tips.

3. Crassula

Also known as the fleshy-leaved grass genus. Fleshy subshrubs, 30 cm tall, stems slender and easy to branch, stems and branches usually growing vertically upward. The leaf scales are generally triangular, arranged on the stems and branches in 4 rows, very tightly, so that people mistakenly think there are only green 4-angled stems and branches without leaves; when the light is insufficient, the leaves become scattered. Flowers grow in the leaf axils, very small, yellow-white. This is a common succulent plant, easy to cultivate and propagate. The Crassula varieties currently sold on the market are not pure, and one variant, Ruo Lu, is also called Crassula in many places. Ruo Lu's branches, besides those growing vertically upward, also have horizontal and creeping ones, and the leaves are arranged in a scattered way, sometimes in 4 rows and sometimes not.

4. Aeonium

Shrub-like, stems branched or unbranched. Perennial fleshy herbs. Xerophytes, growing in dry, rocky places. Leaves succulent, but most are slightly thinner than those of Echeveria. The fleshy leaves are arranged at the top of the stem in a basal rosette, in a lotus-like form, the leaves are mostly blue or green, and the leaf margins and leaf surfaces are hairy. Racemes tall, and after flowering the whole plant dies.

5. Echeveria

Short rosette-forming succulents with leaves arranged in a lotus shape, the leaves plump and round, with upright stems and lateral scorpioid cymes, and the flowers are very beautiful. People often collectively call all succulents with leaves arranged in a lotus shape "stone lotus," and although they are all Crassulaceae succulents, they are not necessarily all in the same genus. In particular, the plants of the following Graptopetalum and Dudleya genera are very similar to Echeveria, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them by appearance alone. But they can be distinguished by certain characteristics, for example: the leaves of Echeveria plants can propagate new seedlings, while the leaves of Dudleya plants do not have this function. When Echeveria plants bloom, part of the petals near the receptacle are connected, so the flower cannot open completely and is only bell-shaped, while the flowers of Graptopetalum plants can open completely, forming a five-pointed star shape.

6. Graptopetalum

Compared with Echeveria, the leaves of Graptopetalum are mostly slender, arranged in an elongated rosette, covered with white powder or with a beard at the leaf tip. The plant shape of this genus is very similar to Echeveria, but the flowers of this genus are not bottle-shaped or bell-shaped, but star-shaped, with waxy petals, some with red spots, and the flowers can open completely, forming a five-pointed star shape.

7. Dudleya

Dudleya has about 45 species, many of which formerly belonged to Echeveria, and it is a relatively special genus in the Crassulaceae family. Dudleya is fleshy and juicy, the leaves are hairless, growing at the base of the rosette, and the leaf shape is generally between Echeveria and Graptopetalum; the three are sometimes difficult to distinguish, and the leaf color usually ranges from green to gray. The peduncle is upright and sometimes up to one meter tall, but the inflorescence is usually shorter, with a cyme at the top, and the bracts are alternate. Petals and sepals are both relatively small, five petals overlap at the base, five pistils gather inside, and 10 stamens surround them. It usually grows on rock walls, cliffs, or beside roads.

8. Kalanchoe

Also known as the lantern grass genus. Fleshy herbs, subshrubs or shrubs. Leaves opposite, often with clasping petioles or leaf bases, entire or toothed, or pinnately lobed. Paniculate cymes, bracts small, many flowers, flowers often upright, white, yellow or red; flowers 4-merous; sepals free to the base or more or less connate, triangular or lanceolate, often shorter than the corolla tube; corolla salverform, petals connate into a more or less 4-angled tube, the tube not swollen, or swollen at the base into a urn shape, gradually narrowed upward, the free part short, slightly narrowed at the base; stamens 8, inserted above or below the middle of the corolla tube, filaments of different lengths, some can reach the middle of the corolla lobes, usually very short; scales linear to semicircular; carpels upright, style long or short. Follicles with many seeds; seeds cylindrical.

9. Orostachys

Perennial fleshy; leaves spirally arranged into small rosettes, more or less linear; flowers numerous, arranged in terminal, cylindrical racemes or; sepals 5, fleshy, about half as long as the corolla; petals 5, slightly connate at the base, ridged; stamens 10, equal in length to the petals, carpels 5, free, with slender styles; at flowering the leaf rosette extends upward and sends out an inflorescence, and after flowering it usually dies, continuing the lineage through tiller buds at the base of the plant.

10. Pachyphytum

The whole genus has only about 10 or more species, perennial fleshy herbs, short stems upright, fleshy leaves alternate, arranged in an elongated rosette, obovate or spindle-shaped, the surface covered with white powder. Scorpioid cymes, small bell-shaped flowers, red. The difference between this genus and Echeveria is: the inner side of each petal has a pair of small scales. The difference between Pachyphytum plants and Echeveria is: the inner side of each petal has a pair of small scales.

11. Sedum

Annual or perennial herbs, rarely woody at the stem base, hairless or hairy, fleshy, upright or spreading, sometimes clustered or moss-like. Leaves various, opposite, alternate or whorled, entire or serrate, rarely linear. Inflorescences cymose or corymbose, axillary or terminal; flowers white, yellow, red, purple, rather rich in color; usually bisexual, rarely reduced to unisexual; usually unequal 5-merous, rarely 4-9-merous; petals free or connate at the base; stamens usually twice the number of petals, the antipetalous stamens inserted at the base of the petals or slightly above; scales entire or slightly notched; carpels free, or connate at the base, broad at the base, sessile, style short.

12. Sempervivum

Similar and most closely related to Aeonium. Low fleshy herbs, leaves numerous, lanceolate, spirally arranged into a standard rosette, perennial fleshy herbs; leaves rather thick, mostly in rosette whorls, compact, often with filamentous hairs or fine hairs on the leaves; flowers in cymose panicles, red, white, yellow, green, etc. A few species have filamentous hairs at the leaf tips, and more have beautiful red at the leaf tips.

The above are the characteristics of plants in the Crassulaceae family. Because Crassulaceae plants are short and wind-resistant, do not need large amounts of water and fertilizer, and are pollution-tolerant, they have become the preferred plants for the currently popular rooftop greening.

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