Bot. [med.L. Crassula, dim. of crassa (sc. herba) thick: see CRASS.] A name applied by the mediæval herbalists to some species of Sedum, esp. Orpine; but now limited (by Dillenius) to a genus of succulent plants, chiefly South African, the type of the N. O. Crassulaceæ, which includes the Stonecrops, Houseleeks, Echeveria, etc.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 331. Crassula major is a good repercussif for cool mater.
1671. Salmon, Syn. Med., III. xxii. 400. Orpine. Crassula is a good wound herb.
1885. W. Greswell, in Macm. Mag., Feb., 279/2. Heaths, orchids, crassulæ, and wild geraniums.
Hence Crassulaceous a. Bot., of the Natural Order Crassulaceæ, of which Crassula is the type.
