Crassula muscosa: Structure and Function

The term crassula means thick while muscosa attributes to the plants' mossy appearance. The name of C.muscosa reveals the thick waxy cuticle C.muscosa and other succulents are known for. The thick waxy cuticle of the C.muscosa allows the plant to retain water better, making it more fit for arid, rocky environments. C.muscosa is an angiosperm that blooms tiny flowers that are known for their pungent smell that is said to be similar to the odor of cat urine. This smell allows the plant to attract pollinators such as flies and beetles that are attracted to fecal smells. Another unique characteristic of the C.muscosa are its packed, rosette-like leaf arrangements that allow the leaves to shade each other for optimal drought tolerance. Moreover, C.muscosa is known to be an invasive species. Its ability to invade foreign environments is aided by its ability to be propagated from stem cuttings, meaning that the plant can easily grow and develop from a randomly fallen stem, which is easy to come by due to the plants' tendency to grow in all directions like snakes. 

Crassula muscosa: Evolutionary Relationships

C.muscosa is part of the Crassulaceae family, Crassuloideae sub family, and the Crassula genus. The Crassulaceae family is also known as the stonecrop family due to its tendency to grow in arid, stony areas with rocky soil with its inherent drought tolerance and its ability to store water. Moreover, the Crassula genus is distinguished from the rest of the family with its noticeable combination of opposite occurring leaves and the single whorl of stamens in each flower. The trait of the combination of opposite occuring leaves has evolved in C.muscosa and the rest of the genus, for the matter of drought tolerance, in that the species have their leaves in a close, almost rosette leaf, arrangements in order to shade other leaves to avoid losing water. Another unique characteristic of the genus is the reduction in size that allows the plant to store water more efficiently and colonize and exploit more extreme environments. Moreover, plants in the Crassula genus open their stomates at night when temperatures are cooler to take in CO2 and avoid losing as much water as they would if they were to open their stomates during the day. 

Crassula muscosa: Ecology

The C.muscosa is able to disperse and propagate via stem cuttings. The C.muscosa is native to South Africa and Namibia as a succulent plant. However, due to its status as a common houseplant and easy propagation methods, it easily becomes an invasive species due to its ability to grow and multiply rapidly as a population, causing more disturbance and competition to other plants, including plants that may be important for the ecosystem and for humans. The C.muscosa is limited by certain abiotic conditions, including moderate temperatures around 20-21 degrees Celsius, moderate sunlight (too much sun can dry it out and make it stiffen) and little water. As it's a common houseplant, it is very common to find outside of its native region. The picture below of the map show the observed distribution of C.muscosa outside of the native region. Many are observed in the native region of South Africa and Namibia. However, they are a couple observed in dry, arid conditions simialr to the native region like New Zealand and Australia.