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Kalanchoe beauverdii (Beauverd's Widow's-thrill) - A succulent climber with branching gray wiry stems that clamber and twine and hold narrow 1 to 2 inch long lance-shaped dark purple-black succulent leaves that are held in widely spaced opposite pairs alternating 90 degrees from the last pair. The interesting dark, purple-tinged gray-green flowers hang downwards in terminal clusters in winter and spring. As with many of the Malagasy kalanchoes, this plant drops plantlets about freely but generally only into other pots and these are relatively easy to pull out.
Plant in full coastal sun or shade. It generally likes it warm with dry winters, though it seems to thrive outdoors in our Santa Barbara garden and persisted through the 2007 winter with several nights around 25° F - would likely prefer it warmer. This is an extremely interesting plant and while one might not call it beautiful, it is so unusual that it is sure to attract attention. Kalanchoe beauverdii is native to south and southwestern Madagascar where it inhabits dry shrublands forests distributed from sea level up to 2,750 feet in elevation. 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".
This plant was first described by the French botanist Raymond Hamet (1890–1972) in 1907. Hamet's name is often hyphenated as Raymond-Hamet, and this is thought to be a deliberate choice on his part later in life. One common synonym is Bryophyllum beauverdii but this plant is also known as Kalanchoe jueli (now a subspecies of K. beauverdii), Bryophyllum scandens, Kalanchoe scandens, Bryophyllum costantinii, Bryophyllum jueli, and Kalanchoe costantinii. The specific epithet honors the Swiss botanist Beauverd Gustave (1867-1942). Another common name is Sotre-Sotry, though we really don't know what this means or what a "widow's thrill" is.
We grew this unusual plant from 2012 to 2025.
The information displayed on this page about Kalanchoe beauverdii is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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