Crassula multicava

Native to southern South Africa, this plant is an evergreen succulent that spreads into low mats about one foot tall. It has escaped cultivation and become naturalized around Sydney Harbour in Australia, growing along disturbed bushland margins. Its fleshy, glossy leaves grow in opposite pairs and are oval to rounded, with small, pitted pores on their surfaces. Branching flower stalks carry sprays of tiny, star-shaped pinkish-white flowers above the foliage. The plant occurs along forest margins, riverbanks and coastal thickets, often in partial shade. Fallen leaves and broken stems root readily, and small plantlets can develop on the flowerheads before dropping to the ground. This ability to spread has helped it escape gardens and invade natural habitats in parts of the United States and Australia. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.