Crassula 'Petite Bicolor'
Petite Bicolor
- Family
- Crassulaceae
- Native to
- Cosmopolitan, with most species in southern Africa
- Habit
- Mat-forming succulent
Where it comes from
Nothing above a seller documents it, and that is the finding rather than a gap. No breeder, no nursery, no date — and the searches were specific rather than cursory: US plant patentsplant patentA US patent on a plant that can be reproduced without seed, lasting twenty years and barring propagation. Searching for one is how this site checks whether a cultivar's origin was ever documented.Glossary, Kew and IPNIIPNIThe International Plant Names Index. It records where and when a name was published, without ruling on whether it is the accepted one — that is POWO's job.Glossary all came back empty. The patent search is the meaningful one, because there are fourteen US plant patents for Crassula, running from ‘Candy Cane’ to ‘Halo’ — so an absence here means something.12
Naming and description
It is probably not a jade plant, which is what most sellers imply by filing it under Crassula and leaving it there. Two horticultural databases independently assign it to a different species: Crassula pellucida subsp. marginalis, of which they call it a dwarf variegatedvariegationPatches of leaf with little or no chlorophyll, so they read as white, cream or yellow. The pale tissue cannot feed itself, which is why a variegated plant grows more slowly than a plain one.Glossary form.34 The morphology agrees — this is a mat-forming trailer with small heart-shaped leaves, nothing like the upright woody-stemmed jade.
That parent name is solid at Kew’s level even if the cultivarcultivarA plant selected and propagated by people rather than described from the wild. Written in single quotes after the species — Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' — and never italicised.Glossary’s attachment to it is not: Crassula pellucida subsp. marginalis (Aiton) Toelken, published in 1975, native to the Cape Provinces.56 But the attribution itself rests on two tier-4 databases, so this page keeps the bare cultivarcultivarA plant selected and propagated by people rather than described from the wild. Written in single quotes after the species — Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' — and never italicised.Glossary name and says where the evidence points rather than asserting a species.
Two further cautions from the same sources. It is widely sold under the wrong genusgenusThe rank above species: a group of species close enough to share a name. Monstera and Philodendron are genera; the first word of a botanical name is the genus.Glossary entirely, as Sedum ‘Little Missy’. And one of the two database records is internally broken — it gives the habit as grass-like, the conservation status as Vulnerable (for a cultivarcultivarA plant selected and propagated by people rather than described from the wild. Written in single quotes after the species — Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' — and never italicised.Glossary), and a maximum hardiness zone below its own minimum — so it is cited for the species attribution and nothing else.4
Whether the variegationvariegationPatches of leaf with little or no chlorophyll, so they read as white, cream or yellow. The pale tissue cannot feed itself, which is why a variegated plant grows more slowly than a plain one.Glossary is chimeric, and whether it reverts, is not documented anywhere I could reach. The general rule for chimeralchimeraA plant built from cell layers of different genetics, one carrying a mutation and one not. Most stable variegation is a chimera, which is why it cannot be grown from seed.Glossary variegationvariegationPatches of leaf with little or no chlorophyll, so they read as white, cream or yellow. The pale tissue cannot feed itself, which is why a variegated plant grows more slowly than a plain one.Glossary would say cut out any all-green shoot, but nobody has looked at this plant.
Fun facts
- Do not trust the “non-toxic” claim attached to it. One of the two sources that identifies the plant also states it is safe around children and pets.3 That is an unsourced assertion on a commercial page, and it runs against a pet poison service’s genus-level rating of Crassula as a gastrointestinal irritant.7 Treat it like the rest of the genusgenusThe rank above species: a group of species close enough to share a name. Monstera and Philodendron are genera; the first word of a botanical name is the genus.Glossary.
- It is a good illustration of how thin the record gets below the species level. Every plant on this site with a Latin binomial can be checked against Kew in about a minute. This one has a name that exists only in commerce, an attributed parent species supported by two horticultural databases and nothing above them, and a care profile inherited by family resemblance. That is normal for succulent cultivarscultivarA plant selected and propagated by people rather than described from the wild. Written in single quotes after the species — Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' — and never italicised.Glossary, and it is worth saying out loud on the one page where it is unavoidable.
Care
- Light
- Four or more hours of direct sun a day, or a bright south-facing window — two extension services give the same figure independently. No source at this level publishes a lux number. Too little light gives deep green leaves, drooping stems and no red in the margins; the compact shape is a light effect, not a genetic one.
- Water
- Let the mix dry out, then water deeply. Overwatering drops the leaves and rots the stem, and it is the way most of these die. Cut back sharply in winter — that is well documented as practice, though it is horticultural practice rather than anything derived from the plant's physiology, and it is worth being honest about which.
- Humidity
- No requirement. Ordinary dry room air is what it is built for.
- Temperature
- 65-75 °F (18-24 °C) by day and 50-55 °F (10-13 °C) at night is the published optimum. The cool nights are not an indulgence — nocturnal gas exchange is when a CAM plant does its work.
- Substrate
- Free-draining and gritty — a cactus mix, or ordinary compost cut heavily with sharp sand or perlite. Depth matters less than drainage; these are shallow-rooted.
- Fertilizer
- Very little. Clemson feeds once every three or four months. A CAM plant's daily carbon gain is modest by design, so feeding it like a fast-growing foliage plant gives it nothing it can use.
- Propagation
- Leaf and stem cuttings, both easy. Let the cut surface callus before it touches the mix. No extension source I found gives a rooting timescale, which is worth knowing before you conclude yours is slow.
- Dormancy
- None documented as a physiological rest. Growth slows in winter with the light and the temperature, and the watering follows.
- Common problems
-
- Root and stem rot from overwatering — far and away the commonest cause of death, and the reason the pot matters more than the plant
- Leggy stems with widely spaced deep-green leaves and no red margins mean too little light
- Mealybugs and spider mites. But do not reach for insecticidal soap: Clemson warns it may damage jade plants and Wisconsin flags phytotoxicity independently. Alcohol on a cotton bud is the documented alternative
- Leaf drop after a period of drought is normal and recoverable; leaf drop on a wet plant is not
- A plant that never flowers is usually beside a lamp. Flowering is triggered by long nights, so a plant getting evening light indoors will not do it
- Every part is toxic to cats and dogs, and unusually the toxic principle has never been identified