Crassula capitella is a small, perennial herb, with fleshy, propeller-like leaves that mature from bright lime-green to bright red. It is upright or decumbent, 150 to 400 mm tall and can form mats up to 1 m in diameter. Tiny, star-like, white flowers are borne on tall, stout stems in summer. Crassula capitella makes roots at the nodes even before they touch the ground.

Crassula capitella has five subspecies:

Crassula capitella subsp. capitella, mostly biennials with a single basal rosette, usually glabrous stems, tiny white flowers in unbranched spike-like inflorescences, in mid- to late summer.

Crassula capitella subsp. meyeri, a decumbent form that becomes woody at the base, with one to several rosettes and erect stems that are glabrous or sparsely hairy. It occurs only along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal in sandy soil, and bears tiny white flowers in unbranched spike-like inflorescences in late summer to winter.

Crassula capitella subsp. nodulosa, a perennial shrublet with one, rarely a few rosettes, hairy stems and white flowers in an unbranched inflorescence in summer.

Crassula capitella subsp. sessilicymula, a perennial shrublet with a somewhat woody base, up to 400 mm tall. It bears tiny white flowers in mid-summer, and the inflorescence is usually branched from the base.

Crassula capitella subsp. thyrsiflora, a branching perennial shrublet producing several rosettes, which are pink-tinged rosettes at first and later the leaves become pagoda-shaped and turn red .That is why it is commonly known as ‘red pagoda’. It bears tiny white flowers in unbranched spike-like inflorescences in summer.