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Kalanchoe bracteata (Silver Teaspoons) - A small compact shrubby succulent to 4 feet tall with 1- to 2-inch-long ovate leaves with a slight point at the tip and short petioles. The species can be a bit variable, but our plants appear grayish silvery-white because of a pubescence of appressed short stellate hairs and a waxy substance that covers the leaves and the young 4 angled stems. The flowers on this plant are red on branched terminal inflorescences.
Plant in full sun to bright shade and irrigate little to occasionally. Has proven hardy to 28 F and may be hardy below this. This plant is great in pots or as an accent or even a small border hedge in the garden.
Kalanchoe bracteata comes from southeastern Madagascar and closely related and very similar to Kalanchoe hildebrandtii, which grows in the same local but has greenish-white flowers. The name Kalanchoe as described by the French botanist Michel Adanson in 1763 was an adaption of a name for a plant in the genus in a Chinese dialect, most likely a dialect of Hokkien, spoken by overseas Chinese in the Philippines in the late 1600s. The name came to Adason's attention through Georg Joseph Kamel (Camellus or Cameli), a Czechian botanist and Jesuit missionary in the Philippines. Kamel referred to this plant as "kalanchauhuy" in his writings with 'ka-lan' being a Buddhist term for the physical grounds, gardens, or groves of a temple combined with 'huy' meaning a "flower". The name for the genus Camellia also honors Kamel. Though it seems that the correct pronunciation of the genus should be kal-an-KOH-ee, there are some who pronounce it "kal-an-choe" with some claiming the former is the American pronunciation and the latter the British, while others point to the Chinese origin of the word and suggest it might be pronounced "ka-lan-choi". The specific epithet "bracteata" is in reference to the conspicuous floral bracts of this species.
The Huntington Botanic Gardens has introduced a selection of Kalanchoe bracteata called 'Silvermint' (ISI 2005-29) with copper-colored flowers.
We have grown this nice smaller succulent shrub since 2009 and also grow the glabrous green leaf form of this species Kalanchoe bracteata forma glabra.
The information about Kalanchoe bracteata that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.
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