Transvaal Kalanchoe??

Does anyone here know of this succulent? Crassula???...I purchased a six inch pot of this plant this afternoon. Description, no photo!......Glaucous-grey coloured, huge fat leaves; plant itself, about 6-7" tall? they came in from a nursery in the valley here. I have done quite an extensive search on the Web, to no avail! help please, Elaine

No tag at all?

Big fat blue leaves, native to Cape Province, Transvaal?

My first guess is Cotyledon orbiculata Syn C. macrantha.

Here's an image I've uploaded to the PDB, if this is it or close I can give you some information on the variations you are likely to see with various growing conditions.
http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/23615/

Main record for Cotyledon orbiculata
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/54625/

If that's not it, let me know and I'll look beyond my gut reaction.

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Crassulaceae/Cotyledon_orbiculata.html.......that looks like it Happenstance, maybe more greenish-blue fat leaves....are we getting closer????????

This picture is not that of a Crassula? Nor are the flowers. So the picture rules out Crassula. Please give us the size of the leaves, does it have bloom, or is it glaucus, does it have a red trim, is it wavy. Cotyledon orbicularis, maybe, but what species, variety or subspecies. Why don't you send your friend a leaf which might help her identify the plant. I have a leaf of "Jade" sitting here to be identified. Please believe me, I'm not trying to be rude, or snotty, I really want to help. It is so hard to Identify a plant by a leaf, let alone one that can't be seen. PLease describe it in more detail. Norma

Kalanchoe? maybe, I do have a gray leaf type, but the leaves have a bloom, and blotches on them. I have several like that. The flowers will tell you what species, Cotyledon will flower in the fall, with bells hanging down. Kalanchoe that I have the flowers grow straight up, most leaves having notches, Mail Jeff Harris on this forum a leaf he will be able to help you, he is somewhat an expert with Kalanchoe. Norma

Morning Roselaine -

Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Cotyledon
Species orbiculata

Here in Northern California I have the "blue" form growing in several pots by design and other places just by accident. It really will take over if given the room, so I do not grow it in the ground on purpose.

The forms vary a great deal, and not all the plants from the original look exactly alike. Amount of sun, amount of fertilizer, amount of care(less is better) all slightly alter the look of the plant. The flowers on a pot in the greenhouse are definitely "pinkish" as compared to the red/orange/yellow out in the hot sun. The amount of "powder" on the leaves is reduced because I water with a heavy handed hose, but winter in the greenhouse sees the powder return. Nursery grown examples are usually "bluer" to begin with because they have been grown in optimum conditions, grown fast, and are pristine without the effects of weather.

The picture attached shows a broken stalk from the pot in the first Hyperlink. It was thrown in the top of another pot and has since dug down to suck up the fish emulsion in the pot.....much more red defined borders, turning green around the gills from the fish emulsion and less sun....growing like a weed in 2 weeks time.

Here is a link http://www.echeveria.freeserve.co.uk/leslies_succulents06.htm to some additional images.

This is not to say it is the plant you have, but without an image it is hard to say for sure.

And here is an additional image from the same plant, grown in lower light in the greenhouse. The leaves are much longer, bluer and have a more pronounced point. They are also not as "fat".

There are some great resources on the web to check out additional images, here's a Google Image search for keyword "cotyledon orbiculata." http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22cotyledon+orbiculata%22
Inevitably some of the images pulled up by such a search will bear no resemblance to what you are looking for, which makes the search interesting!

Let me know if I can help or email me an image if you can get one.

Norma and Hstance, thankyou so much for your input! The leaves are absolutely HUGE! and when I did some more research, I found the plant to resemble Kalanchoe Thyrsiflora.....Norma, I can relate to what you're saying!.....once, on the radio, a listener called me and said, I have this red rose, ...can you tell me what it is? THiis succulent is truly making us delve into everything! It's great to have a mystery plant now and then! Keeps us all on our toes! The plant is now sitting in front of me..here goes!.....having just purchased it two days ago, he doesn't have a blossom! I only know the leaves are very rounded, glaucous, no red edges as such so far, in a 6" pot, and, yes, the stem is completely covered with the softish-white base of each 4" wide leaf, and the plant itself, is around 8" tall. hope this is better info

Roselaine -

Try these two and see if it is any closer:

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora
http://www.singingspringsnursery.com/page4.html

or

K. grandiflora
http://www.textureplants.co.nz/textured%20website/succulent_kalanchoe.html

ok, that's better now! the Grandiflora...looks more like it! maybe that's it??????

Here's another image of K. thysaflora from Glasshouse Works and their description:
South African species with flat oval diagonally-placed lvs with silvery effect from white mealy surfaces, & with red rim in high light. Paniculate infl with yellow fls

http://www.glasshouseworks.com/images/kal-thyr.jpg

Kalanchoe grandiflora is also a synonym for K. marmorata - the Penwiper Plant (also syn. Kalanchoe somaliensis), but I don't think it is native to S. Africa, think it's Ethiopia or close to there.

Another name you might research is K. glaucescens

That's it for me......a picture would really help!

Well we don't have to look any further,,,,,,that's it!!!! Yipppppeeeeeeeeeeee! finally!!! I'll take a photo anyway! don't have a digital, but a scanner!!! yea!

Hi Roselaine, I'm so glad that you showed that last picture. It doesn't grow like Kalanchoe thrsiflora, it is Species see page 71 of Toelken's book. Your picture shows K.luciae, which will have white flowers with long tubes, that stand straight up, on a long spike like infl.
it was wrongly named for many years as K. thrsiflora HBG b spotted the mistake and reported the corrected name in the CSSA Journal which is our national bulletin. The real K. thrsiflora will have golden yellow flowers that lay down, has a very sweet order. The flowers are not as large, and as much sun as I give it I can't get the red edges. YOur luciae will get very, very red as it gets more sun and cold. Your location is correct. Now wait for it to flower to make sure any of us are correct. Norma

thankyou muchly, Norma! red on the edges, that sounds delicious! Kalanchoe Luciae, ok! E.

I don't think I explained by self correctly, the books says it gets red on the edges, I can't grow it that way, mine gets red all over the leaf and turns extremely red with the cold weather. I have it growing in full sun now, I saw it in Africa, only one, on top of a bare hill that was shale, I didn't climb to the top of this one, afraid of slipping. I'm sure others on this forum will grow it differently. I have compared it with all the other Kalancoe I grow (100) This is really one of the nicest of the species. Easy to grow, will clump, does not require much attention, will give you a lot of pleasure, for very little effort. Enjoy, Norma

thankyou.......wouldn't that be oh so wonderful and fulfilling to see it in natural habitat! E.