CRASSULA ALATA

Family:- CRASSULACEAE

Common Names:- None

Synonyms:- Crassula alata var. trichopoda, Tillaea alata, Tillaea muscosa var.

trichopoda, Tillaea trichopoda.

Meaning:- Crassula (L) Succuulent-little-plant.

Alata (L) Possibly meaning from the Ala Tau mountains, Turkestan.

General description:- Small, glabrous annual.

Stems:-

1) 3-10 cm, procumbent, ascending or erect, winged.

Leaves:-

1) 3-7 mm, opposite, united at the base, terete to semi-terete, lanceolate,

mucronate.

Flowers:-

1) 3- or 4-merous, on slender pedicels up to 2·5 mm, forming dense cymes in the

leaf-axils.

2) Petals, 0·8-1·5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the sepals, white or

pink.

Fruit:-

1) Follicles, c. 1 mm 2-seeded.

Key features:-

1) Flowers 3- or 4-merous, pedicellate.

2) Petals white or pink, shorter than the sepals.

3) Follicles 2-seeded.

4) Leaves lanceolate

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky and stony places with a thin soil layer, in dry or temporarily wet

conditions. 0-700 m.

Distribution:- E Mediterranean region from the Aegean area eastwards, extending

to Iraq and Iran. Somewhat scattered across Crete, mainly in the west and east.

Flowering time:- Mar-May.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis