Kalanchoe Adans.

Overview

Kalanchoe belongs to the family Crassulaceae. Kew gives its native range as the Old World tropics and subtropics; Flora of China counts about 125 species in Africa and Asia, four of them in China (two endemic). With Bryophyllum and others included, WCVP accepts more, listed below.

The pot plant flaming Katy is K. blossfeldiana, which Kew records as a succulent subshrub native to north-eastern Madagascar, growing chiefly in the seasonally dry tropics. Clemson Extension notes that it was introduced in 1932 by the German hybridiser Robert Blossfeld; its small, four-petalled flowers are clustered above the leaves, double varieties have up to 26 petals per flower, and colours include red, magenta, pink, orange, yellow and white.

Classification and characters

WCVP cites Adanson’s Familles des Plantes (1763) as the place of publication and sinks Bryophyllum, Kitchingia and others as synonyms, so the plants once called Bryophyllum are now species of Kalanchoe.

Flora of China describes herbs (sometimes biennial), subshrubs or shrubs with opposite, often clasping leaves that are entire, toothed, crenate or pinnate. The terminal cymes are many-flowered; the flowers are bisexual, erect and four-parted, with a salverform corolla that is yellow (or white, red, pink or orange) and lobes longer than the tube; there are twice as many stamens as petals, and the fruit is a many-seeded follicle.

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 71 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 111 more.

Introduced

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 203 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-28.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Bryophyllum calycinum

  The Paradisus Londinensis · Tab. 3 · 1805
  
• 

  Cotyledon crenata

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 1436 · 1812
  Sydenham Edwards, F. Sansom
• 

  Bryophyllum proliferum

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 5147 · 1859
  Walter Hood Fitch

Pot-plant care and safety

Clemson Extension advises full sun and a well-drained potting mix, as plants get spindly in dim light; nights of 7–18 °C (45–65 °F) and days of 10–21 °C (50–70 °F) are ideal, with cooler nights making the flowers last longer; overwatering is harmful, so let the soil dry slightly between waterings. Like poinsettias, kalanchoes need short days (long nights) to set buds: natural winter nights of 14–16 hours, roughly from 1 October to 1 March, bring buds after about six weeks, while temperatures above 27 °C (80 °F) during the long nights cause a “heat delay” that stops flower development.

The ASPCA lists kalanchoes as toxic to dogs and cats: the toxic principles are bufadienolides, causing vomiting, diarrhoea and, rarely, abnormal heart rhythm.

Further reading

• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-28
2. Flora of China vol. 8 · Kalanchoe
3. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Kalanchoe blossfeldiana native range and life form
4. Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center · Kalanchoe
5. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Kalanchoe