Hey there Carole. This plant is almost certainly K. luciae... also the plants pictured below. K. luciae is very commonly mislabeled as K. thyrsiflora, and the latter is actually quite rare in cultivation.




Unless they are from a special source, I would like to propose moving these 3 images to K. luciae. Please let me know what you think.

More info here...

https://www.smgrowers.com/info...

@Baja_Costero Baja hi

You can certainly shift it along if you feel its in the wrong listing. I was only going by the plant label from the original ....




Thanks for your help there.

I remember a lot of confusion about this a couple of years ago when there were a lot of images at this entry that had to be moved over to Flapjacks (Kalanchoe luciae) (my photos included). When I purchased my plant, it was labeled "Flapjacks" Kalanchoe thyrsiflora.

Yes, I think that name was propagated along with the plant for quite some time. It refers to a similar-looking Kalanchoe which I've only ever seen in a botanical garden.

With both having the common names of Flapjack Plant and Paddle Plant, I'm sure that causes confusion too.

I suspect this gorgeous multi-plant pic is also mislabeled?

I've edited the multi-plant pic to show the right name.

Zuzu to the rescue!

Baja_Costero said:Yes, I think that name was propagated along with the plant for quite some time. It refers to a similar-looking Kalanchoe which I've only ever seen in a botanical garden.

I think I might have the true Kalanchoe thyrsiflora. For a long time I thought it was Kalanchoe luciae (that's what I bought it as). But it has been glaucous, waxy, and powdery without ever developing a hint of orange or red. It's one of those plants that I honestly neglect for most of the year.

It is just under 22" tall (although it is tilted somewhat). It has never flowered and I don't particularly want it to since it's semelparous.

I will take pictures in the next few days when I'm off work during daylight hours.

Yes, and be sure to take a picture when it flowers, for the database!

@Baja_Costero oh yes forgot about flowers/pics. I am too nifty with the secateurs since I had the notion let them flower and they phase out, start going downhill? Have seen the flowers and they're quite insignificant too.

Once they decide to flower, they have committed to dying afterwards. You can prune the inflorescence (I actually did this to see what would happen) and that does not affect the final outcome. They usually make plenty of offsets so the babies carry on regardless.

Well, I got a couple of OK pictures tonight. I had totally forgotten that a few months ago I took a damp paper towel to the leaves and tried to clean them, not realizing that they were SUPPOSED to look dusty.

You can see where the white powder has been washed off, but on the new leaves at the top (and the stem) they are still coated more uniformly white. That's how the whole plant was before I wiped it down like an idiot.





The new leaves (who haven't been washed):


I am a little embarrassed to post these pictures because this poor plant really is neglected by me. I move it outside in warmer weather, but it never turns anything close to orange or red.

Whatever species you all say it is, I'll go with. As I understand they have identical needs anyway.

(It does not grow on my table, I just put it there for pictures.)

Baja_Costero said:Once they decide to flower, they have committed to dying afterwards. You can prune the inflorescence (I actually did this to see what would happen) and that does not affect the final outcome. They usually make plenty of offsets so the babies carry on regardless.

Oh goodo; I hadn't realized this was the beginning of the end once they decide to flower at all. Over the years yes I have had my flapjacks produce lots of little ones and have removed the larger stems etc.

Thanks for that That's my something new learnt for today.

Jai, your plant is incredible! I am surprised it has not flowered yet, but that should be happening imminently (within a year). Those flowers will nail down the ID. Put the images wherever you like now, and you can move them later to another plant depending on what you learn from the flowers.

I thought the procedure was to put pics in the genus entry if there is uncertainty about the species.

I'm also anxious to see it bloom, Jack. The white coating on the stem may negate members of Cotyledon genus from consideration, IDK, but the leaves also looks a lot like C. macrantha:
http://www.crassulaceae.ch/de/...

...but only sites like Pinterest & Flickr show lower-light/indoor specimens with leaves pointing down, so those pics may or may not be labeled correctly.

My own bias would be to wait for flowers (especially since the flowers should be happening in the near future), but I don't think the ID is wide open here. If the plant is K. luciae or thyrsiflora, it will have white or yellow flowers respectively.

The gray/white coating does not exclude Cotyledon as a genus (which one would expect to make colorful bell-like flowers like the ones on Tiffany's link) but it seems to be rather tall/old not to have flowered if it's a Cotyledon. Maybe indoors they behave different. The most common Cotyledons (the only ones I know from personal experience) flower every year without resulting in the death of the mother plant. They branch at the base of the inflorescence afterwards.

Anyway, all these things will play out in their own time and the answer should soon be staring you in the face. Please share.

Baja_Costero said:Jai, your plant is incredible! I am surprised it has not flowered yet, but that should be happening imminently (within a year). Those flowers will nail down the ID. Put the images wherever you like now, and you can move them later to another plant depending on what you learn from the flowers.

Thank you. I don't want the images to go anywhere for now.

What is your plant up to lately, Jack?

The same thing, just staying green. No indication of blooms of any sort. I divided it into 3 stem cuttings and 2 died. Only the original growth point end survived, but I don't really know why.