Kleinia petraea aka Jade Trepador

Kleinia petraea is a trailing succulent in the daisy family (Asteraceae), native to the rocky highlands of Kenya and Tanzania in East Tropical Africa. It was originally described as Notonia petraea by Robert Elias Fries in 1928 and transferred to the genus Kleinia by C. Jeffrey in 1986. For decades the species was widely cultivated under the name Senecio jacobsenii, which is now treated as a synonym; Notoniopsis petraea and Senecio petraeus are also synonyms encountered in older literature.

The plant is a multiple-branched succulent subshrub with fleshy, sprawling stems roughly 0.8 cm thick that creep along the soil surface, rooting at the nodes as they go, or cascade over the edges of pots and walls. Stems reach about 50 cm (20 inches) in length. The leaves are thick, fleshy, and roughly egg-shaped, up to about 6.5 cm long and 3.2 cm wide, held either erect or spreading. Healthy foliage is glossy green and frequently develops attractive purple, mauve, or brown speckling, which intensifies under bright light or cool conditions and gives the plant much of its ornamental appeal. The plant earns its English common names — creeping jade, trailing jade, and weeping jade — from a superficial resemblance to the unrelated jade plant (Crassula ovata).

In autumn or winter, mature plants produce erect flower stalks up to 40 cm tall topped with bright orange, rayless composite flower heads typical of the Senecioneae tribe. The species grows in a seasonally dry tropical climate in its native range, which contributes to its tolerance of drought and irregular watering. It has been recorded as introduced in scattered tropical and subtropical regions including parts of Central America, Vietnam, and southern South America, where it occasionally escapes cultivation.

Today Kleinia petraea is widely grown as an ornamental groundcover and hanging-basket succulent. The combination of trailing habit, drought tolerance, low maintenance requirements, and showy speckled foliage has made it a popular subject for rockeries, dish gardens, and indoor windowsills wherever frost-free conditions can be maintained.