Kalanchoe pinnata

Kalanchoe pinnata (Lam.) Pers., Syn. Pl. 1: 446.1805; Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.) Oken, Allg. Naturgesh. 3,3: 1966. 1841; Berger in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 18a: 410. 1930; Grierson & D. G. Lang, Fl. Bhutan 1(3): 473. 1987; B. calycinum Salisb., Parad. London t.3.1805; Cotyledon pinnata Lam., Encycl. 2: 141. 1786; Crassula pinnata (Lam.) L.f., Suppl. Pl. 191. 1782.

Monocarpic herb, green streaked with purple, glaucous, glabrous, succulent. Stem up to 1.5 m tall, branched, erect or ascending, stout, somewhat woody at base. Leaves opposite, decussate, first few leaves simple, rest mostly imparipinnately compound with 3-5 leaflets; petiole 2-10 cm and petiolules variable; blades of leaves or leaflets green, streaked with purple, 5-20 cm x 2-12 cm, ovate, ovate-oblong, apex obtuse, base rounded, margin crenate; surfaces +/- glaucous; bulbils in notches of leaf margins. Inflorescence open cymes in terminal or axillary panicles, 10-40 cm, many-flowered; flowers pendulous; pedicels 1-2.5 cm. Flowers large, bisexual, actinomorphic, 4-merous. Calyx yellow or green specked with red or red-violet spikes, glabrous, inflated, papery, ca. 2.5 cm long; tube 1.7-2 cm long; lobes 0.6-0.8 cm long, deltate, apex acute. Corolla 3.8-4.5 cm long, tubular, exserted from calyx mouth; tube 2.6-3.0 cm long, greenish white, exserted portion maroon contracted basally, sparsely glandular-pubescent; lobes 4, oblong-ovate to triangular, 1.2-1.5 cm long, apex acuminate. Stamens 8, in 2 whorls, inserted in lower quarter of corolla ca. 1 cm from base, exserted; filaments ca. 2.2 cm long; anthers +/- ovate, ca. 2 mm long, basifixed. Nectar scales 4, oblong or subquadrate or ovate, obtuse or emarginate at apex, ca. 3 mm x 2 mm. Pistils 4, free, connate at base, ca. 3.3 cm long; styles 2-2.5 cm long; ovaries ca. 1 cm long, unilocular with many ovules, placentation parietal.

Follicles 1-1.4 cm long, enclosed in persistent papery calyx. Seeds numerous per fruit, obovoid, obtuse at apex, 0.8-1.2 mm x 0.2-0.35 mm. (Follicles not observed)

Flowering and Fruiting: February to May
Common Names: Air Plant, Cantebury Bells, Cathedral Bells, Donkey Ears, Floppers, Goethe Plant, Life Plant, Leaf of Life, Mexican Love Plant, Miracle Leaf, Resurrection Plant; Pathar-chatta, Pathar-chur, Pathar Kunchi (Hindi)