Kalanchoe thyrsiflora (also known as paddle plant, flapjacks, desert cabbage, white lady, geelplakkie, meelplakkie, or plakkie [citation needed]) is a species of flowering plant native to Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Eswatini. This plant is rare in cultivation, and those plants labelled as "Kalanchoe thyrsiflora" in horticulture are mostly another similar species, Kalanchoe luciae.[1][2]

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Kalanchoe
Species:
K. thyrsiflora
Binomial name
Kalanchoe thyrsiflora

Taxonomy edit

The name Kalanchoe thyrsiflora was first validly published for this southern African species by William Henry Harvey in 1862.[3] Based on an error introduced in The Plant List in 2012, the name K. thyrsiflora has been treated by some as a synonym of K. tetraphylla.[4] However, these two names apply to two distinct species.[5][6][7][8] The name K. tetraphylla dates from 1923 and applies to a different species confined to Madagascar.

Description edit

It is a succulent plant producing a stalk about 1m tall, which dies back after flowering. It forms a basal rosette of large, rounded, fleshy, stalkless leaves, which are grayish-green with red margins, covered with a white powdery bloom. The inflorescence is terminal and erect with densely clustered thyrse-like panicles of greenish waxy flowers with yellow recurved lobes, narrowly urn-shaped. The plant flowers from autumn to spring, and is common in grassveld amongst rocks.

Gallery edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Flapjacks, Kalanchoe spp". Wisconsin Horticulture. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  2. ^ Hankey, Andrew; Werner Voigt, Werner (2019). "Kalanchoe thyrsiflora". PlantZAfrica. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  3. ^ "Kalanchoe thyrsiflora". ipni.org. International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  4. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". The Plant List. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  5. ^ Boiteau, P.; Allorge-Boiteau, L. (1995). Kalanchoe (Crassulacées) de Madagascar. Systématique, Écophysiologie et Phytochimie. Paris: Éditions Karthala. ISBN 2-86537-595-1.
  6. ^ Descoings, B. (2003). "Crassulaceae". In Eggli, U. (ed.). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants. Berlin: Springer Verlag. pp. 143–181. ISBN 978-3-642-62629-6.
  7. ^ "Kalanchoe thyrsiflora". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  8. ^ "Kalanchoe tetraphylla". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2018-10-02.

External links edit