[Wikipedia] South Africa native, Description: Portulacaria afra (known as elephant bush, porkbush, purslane tree, dwarf jade and spekboom in Afrikaans) is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. These succulents commonly have a reddish stem and leaves that are green, but also a variegated cultivar is often seen in cultivation. They are simple to care for and make easy houseplants for a sunny location. In frost-free regions they may be used in outdoor landscaping. Description It is a soft-wooded, semi-evergreen upright shrub or small tree, usually 2.5?4.5 metres (8?15 ft) tall. It is sometimes confused with Crassula ovata (Jade plant), which it is not closely related to. P. afra has smaller and rounder pads and more compact growth (shorter internodal spaces, down to 1.5 millimetres (0.059 in)). It is much hardier, faster growing, more loosely branched, and has more limber tapering branches than Crassula once established.[1] The genus Portulacaria has been shown to be an outlier, relatively unrelated to the other genera in the family, which are all restricted to small ranges in the arid far west of Southern Africa.[2] (link added by Mary Ann Machi)