Light and Shadows In The Garden

Kalanchoe

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalanchoe

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kalanchoe

Kalanchoe.blossfeldiana.jpg

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

Scientific classification

Kingdom:Plantae

(unranked):Angiosperms

(unranked):Eudicots

(unranked):Core eudicots

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 /ˌkæləŋˈkoʊ.iː/,[1] or kal-un-KOH-ee,[2] or kal-un-kee, also written Kalanchöe or Kalanchoë, is a genus of about 125 species of tropical, succulent flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, mainly native to the Old World. Only one species of this genus originates from the Americas, 56 from southern & eastern Africa and 60 species in Madagascar. It is also found in south-eastern Asia and China.[3]

 

Contents [hide]

1Overview

2Cultivation and uses

3Diseases

4Toxicity and traditional medicine

5Selected species

6References

7External links

Overview[edit]

Most are shrubs or perennial herbaceous plants, but a few are annual or biennial. The largest, Kalanchoe beharensis from Madagascar, can reach 6 m (20 ft) tall, but most species are less than 1 m (3 ft) tall.

 

Kalanchoes are characterized by opening their flowers by growing new cells on the inner surface of the petals to force them outwards, and on the outside of the petals to close them.[citation needed]

 

The genus was first described by the botanist Michel Adanson in 1763.[4] Adanson cited Camellus as his source for the name.[5][6] the name came from the Chinese name "Kalanchauhuy".[7]

 

Kamel's species was most likely Kalanchoe ceratophylla as he describes the plant as having deeply divided leaves.[citation needed] Kalanchoe ceratophylla is called 伽蓝菜 (apparently 'Buddhist temple herb') in China, not very close in pronunciation: qiélán cài or jia lan cai depending on the romanisation (but the Cantonese 'gaa laam choi' may be closer).[8] The genus Bryophyllum was described by Salisbury in 1806 and the genus Kitchingia was created by Baker in 1881. Kitchingia is now regarded as a synonym for Kalanchoe, whereas some botanists treat Bryophyllum as a separate genus.[4]

 

Cultivation and uses[edit]

These plants are cultivated as ornamental houseplants and rock or succulent garden plants. This plant is known to the Chinese as "10,000 purple 1,000 red" (萬紫千紅, wànzǐqiānhóng), and is commonly purchased during the Chinese New Year for decorative purposes.[citation needed] 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 phylloclades. The section Bryophyllum - formerly an independent genus - contains species such as the "Air-plant" Kalanchoe pinnata. In these plants, new individuals develop vegetatively as plantlets, also known as bulbils or gemmae, at indentations in phylloclade margins. These young plants eventually drop off and take root. No males have been found of one species of this genus which does flower and produce seeds, and it is commonly called, the Mother of Thousands; the Kalanchoe daigremontiana is thus an example of asexual reproduction.[9] These plants are the food plant of the caterpillars of Red Pierrot butterfly. The butterfly lays its eggs on phylloclades, and after hatching, caterpillars burrow into phylloclades and eat their inside cells.

 

IMG_1329 - Version 2

Done