Meet Ms. Hairy, My Princess Pine (Crassula muscosa)
Meeting #2
I bought a Princess Pine (Crassula muscosa) when I started my succulent collection nine years ago. It is native to South Africa and known as watch chain, rattail, lizard’s tail, zipper plant, and princess pine.
Each stem is formed by many tiny leaves densely packed around the stems, resembling a chain.
I bought it in a store in Old Town, Alexandria, VA. The store owner was an older man with an immense collection of magazines, long-playing records, cartoon magazines, and a few plants for sale in the store window.
The merchandise was dusty from two or three decades prior, but the plants were well cared for.
It came in a 6" black plastic pot. I repotted it about a year later.
Around the second or third year, I was very disappointed. The stems had turned brown; I thought it was sick.
Later, I found that this plant blooms from the bottom up. The tiny brown flowers grow between the leaves, and the stem dries as the blossoms die.
To keep the plant looking green, I cut the tips to make new plants like the one in the friendly face pot above, which I made in 2022 and called Ms. Hairy.
