The jade plant is a member of the Crassulaceae family and related to sedums and many kinds of succulent plants. In its native habitat the jade plant will grow to 10 feet tall with leg-like branches and a torso size trunk. Its succulent jade-green leaves are oval and as thick as a quarter of an inch. The jade plant does flower in Southern California where it is sometimes used as a hedge, but seldom do blooms show themselves when grown as a houseplant. The blooms are white, star-shaped affairs which grow to a half inch across and are borne in dense clusters at the top of the plant.
Jade plants are desert plants and have evolved several strategies to tolerate extended droughts.
Their very succulence is the main means of combating drought, but they also have other tricks up their sleeve. This is called CAM photosynthesis. The carbon dioxide is temporarily stored as malic acid in the succulent leaves. When the sun arrives in the morning, the stomata close to prevent water loss and the plant then converts the stored carbon dioxide into sugar using the energy of the sun. Though not completely indestructible, it is hard to kill a jade plant.