Species · genus Kalanchoe · Crassulaceae

Devil's Backbone

Kalanchoe daigremontiana Raym.-Hamet & H.Perrier

Also known as: Mother-of-Millions · Alligator Plant · Mother Of Thousands

Growth habit

succulent subshrub or shrub

Native range

Madagascar

Reference · K. daigremontiana

Cultivars of K. daigremontiana

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under K. daigremontiana yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A succulent subshrub from Madagascar's arid country, this plant stores water in its fleshy leaves and rots if kept wet. Give it gritty, fast-draining mix and a bright spot with some direct sun, and water deeply only when the soil has dried out completely. Wait until the top several centimetres are bone dry — and the leaves begin to feel slightly soft — before watering again.

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-28d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Direct sun

Water

≈ every 28 days

Humidity

Low — average room

Temperature

10–32 °C

Soil mix

Gritty, fast-draining succulent mix

Propagation

Plantlets form along leaf margins and root on contact

Fertilizing

Dilute succulent feed sparingly in the growing season

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Greyish-pink bells atop tall stalks in winter

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Crassulaceae such as Kalanchoe contain bufadienolide cardiac glycosides This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

No reference gallery yet

A few clear photos — habit, a mature leaf, a flower if it blooms — would give this page its eyes.

Add images

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 14-28d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Devil's Backbone yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — is exactly what keeps this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.