Kalanchoe

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Kalanchoe

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Saxifragales
Family:	Crassulaceae
Genus:	Kalanchoe Adans.

Species

Around 125, see text.

Synonyms

Bryophyllum

Production of new individuals along a leaf margin of the air plant, Kalanchoe pinnata. The small plant in front is about 1 cm tall

Kalanchoe is a genus of about 125 species of tropical, succulent flowering plants in the Family Crassulaceae, mainly native to the Old World but with a few species in the New World.

Most are shrubs or perennial herbaceous plants, but a few are annual or biennial. The largest, K. beharensis from Madagascar, can reach 6 m tall, but most species are less than 1 m tall.

The name is sometimes written "Kalanchoë" to indicate that the final 'e' is pronounced.

[edit] Cultivation and uses

These plants are cultivated as ornamental houseplants and rock or "cactus" garden plants. They are popular because of their ease of propagation, low water requirements, and wide variety of flower colors typically borne in clusters well above the vegetative growth. The section Bryophyllum - formerly an independent genus - contains species like the "Air plant" Kalanchoe pinnata. In these, curiously, new individuals develop vegetatively at indents along the leaf, after the leaf has broken off the plant and is lying on the ground and not seldom even when it is still attached to the plant. Such young plants eventually drop off and take root.