The jade plant (Crassula ovata formerly known as Crassula argentea) is a favorite houseplant responsible for introducing many kids to the joys of gardening, thanks to its indestructible ways. It’s a succulent belonging to the Crassulaceae family, where sedums, hens and chicks, and many kinds of fleshy-leafed plants reside.
This jade plant clone, called ET’s Finger, was grown from eight cuttings stuck into a 6-inch bulb pot.
Photo Credit: Gerald Klingaman
Old jade plants flower in midwinter if grown where they’re away from the interference of artificial lights.
Photo Credit: Gerald Klingaman
In its native habitat, jade plant grows to 10 feet tall with leglike branches and torso-sized trunks. As a houseplant, it can be kept much smaller for several years in a tiny pot. Its succulent, jade-green leaves are 2 inches long, oval in outline and ¼ of an inch thick. Several clones have been selected, including one with a tubular leaf called “ET’s Finger” (‘Gollum’).
In Southern California, this houseplant is sometimes used as a hedge and flowers in midwinter. Typically, though, only old houseplants bloom – and then only if overwintered in the greenhouse and away from the lights that disrupt the blooming cycle. Flowers are white, star-shaped affairs to ½ an inch across and borne at the ends of branches.
This normally desert-growing plant has evolved several strategies to deal with extended periods of drought. Its very succulence is the main means of combating drought, but it also has other tricks up its sleeve. Jade plant – and as later learned, many other kinds of plants adapted to drought conditions – has modified a unique way of photosynthesis that helps conserve water. It’s called CAM photosynthesis.
CAM, an abbreviation for “crassulacean acid metabolism,” permits succulents to open their stomata (small pores on the leaves through which gas exchange occurs) at night and absorb the carbon dioxide it needs for growth during the dark hours. The carbon dioxide is temporarily stored as malic acid in the succulent leaves. When the sun arrives in the morning, the stomata close to prevent water loss, and the plant then converts the stored carbon dioxide into sugar using the energy of the sun and a conventional photosynthetic pathway.
Nice science lesson for the kids aside, jade plant is an all-around great indoor plant to grow. It’s drought-tolerant, slow-growing and hard to kill. Your kids will enjoy it, and if you’ve had problems keeping your houseplants alive in the past, you’ll find this beauty to be a good confidence booster when it comes to successful indoor gardening.
