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Chinese Jade

Crassula arborescens, Crassulaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called African rubber plant, Brazilian rubber plant, Chinese rubber plant, house oak, jade tree, Japanese rubber plant, Persian rubber plant, Silver Dollar, Silver Dollar Jade, Silver Dollar Plant, silver jade plant, tongue-leaf milk plant and tree purslane.

Chinese Jade (Crassula arborescens), the whole plant.
Sandra Fauconnier, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Chinese Jade is toxic

  • Toxic to cats. Toxic principle: Unknown. Clinical signs: Vomiting, drunkeness (cats), tremors (rare). ASPCA
  • Toxic to dogs. Toxic principle: Unknown. Clinical signs: Vomiting, drunkeness (cats), tremors (rare). ASPCA
  • Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Sources file this plant under other names: Crassula arborescens ssp. undulatifolia. Citations below point at the name its source uses.

Light
Full sun
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Well-drained or Moist but well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

Most foliage plants prefer more humidity than a heated room gives; succulents are named as an exception
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H2 — 1–5°C 1–5 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam, Sand; pH Acid or Alkaline or Neutral
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
In the growing season, water moderately and feed monthly with a balanced liquid fertiliser; give little water in winter.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Feeding
Through the growing season, give moderate water and a monthly balanced liquid fertiliser; in winter water sparingly.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Leaf cuttings
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Sow seed in early spring at 15°C, or root stem or leaf cuttings during spring and summer.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pruning
Pruning is not needed.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by aphids, vine weevil and mealybugs. Diseases: usually none.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

About the plant

Crassula arborescens—the silver jade plant, silver dollar (jade) plant, beestebul, Chinese jade, cookie plant, money plant, or money tree, that is endemic to Western Cape, South Africa, is a species of succulent plant in the family Crassulaceae.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
S. Cape Prov.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
South Africa (Cape)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
subtropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
succulent subshrub or shrub
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Succulent; habit erect, multi-stemmed
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Bushy (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 12–48 in; width 12–48 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Height 0.5-1 metres; spread 0.5-1 metres after 5–10 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers pink, white; blooms in spring, summer
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Other Crassula

More of the Crassulaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.