Bryophyllum

Bryophyllum
The "Goethe Plant", Bryophyllum pinnatum, illustrated in Flora de Filipinas by Francisco Manuel Blanco
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Crassulaceae
Genus: Bryophyllum
Salisb.
Species

About 40, see text.[1]

Bryophyllum (from the Greek βρῦον/βρύειν bryon/bryein = sprout, φύλλον phyllon = leaf) is a plant genus of the Crassulaceae family that has sometimes been included within the genus Kalanchoe. There are about forty species in the group, native originally of South Africa, Madagascar, and Asia. The group is notable for vegetatively growing small plantlets on the fringes of the leaves; these eventually drop off and root. These plantlets arise from mitosis of meristematic-type tissue in notches in the leaves.

Nowadays, bryophyllums are naturalised in many parts of the tropics, and deliberately cultivated for their attractiveness or for their interesting reproduction.

Toxicity

Several species of Kalanchoe are economically important for causing cardiotoxic effects in sheep and cattle, and diseases affecting the nervous system and muscles known as krimpsiekte ("shrinking disease") or as cotyledonosis.[2] Bryophyllum pinnatum may have similar chemical components, bufadienolide alkaloids.[3]

There are many hybrids within Bryophyllum, and also hybrids with Kalanchoe such as Kalanchoe × crenatodaigremontiana (B. laxiflorum (as the synonym B. crenatum) × K. daigremontiana) or Houghton's Hybrid (K. daigremontianum × B. delagoense).

Selected species

The three most commonly cultivated species are:

Bryophyllum proliferum

Some other species in this section are:

References

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