Crassula Argentea
Jade Plant
The Crassula Argentea is a member of the Crassulaceae family. Its common name is the Jade plant and originates from South Africa. It survives in dry conditions with the help of some adaptations, which have occurred in it. These adaptations mostly occur in the structure of the plant and help it to tolerate limited water and seasonal temperature variability.
The Jade plant’s main adaptations are:
The thick waxy cuticle helps the plant to prevent desiccation. The reduced amount of leaves helps the plant to reduce water loss by limiting the amount of stomata, which is where the water is lost from and limiting the amount of sunlight that would be hitting of the leaves and heating them up.
The sunlight and amount of rays absorbed play a big part in the removal of water within the leaves. To overcome this problem the plants also have a discoloration of the leaves so they look greyish-white. This helps the plants reflect the sunlight away from the leaf, making it heat up less. The leaves are also vertically oriented so that the surface area available that the sunlight has to hit on the plant is limited.
The leaves are thick and fleshy, which store a lot of water and substitute for the limited amount of capacity to store water due to the lack of leaves.