There are cultivars of Crassula ovata and C. arborescens with wavy leaf margins. Some have blue-green or glaucous leaf colours. This one has reddish margins and rounded tips, others taper to pointed tips. The plant also resembles C. atropurpurea.

The leaves are borne erectly in decussate pairs near branch tips. The plant is robust, branching much. The succulent stems lower down become thick, but remain soft and easy to break. The scars of dropped-off leaves remain, reduced to almost horizontal rings.

During its long history or “career” in cultivation, umpteen C. ovata cultivars have appeared, some of them internationally, even re-entering South Africa as curiosity plants.