Species
+

Kalanchoe delagoensis Eckl. & Zeyh.

Chandelier Plant, Chandelier plant (U.S.), Chandelier plant, Mother of millions, Mother of Thousands, Gusanillo (Dominican Republic)

Climate known 56 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Kalanchoe delagoensis, formerly known as Bryophyllum delagoense and commonly called mother of millions or chandelier plant, is a succulent plant native to Madagascar. Like other members of Bryophyllum, it is able to propagate vegetatively from plantlets that develop on its leaf margins.

Text from Wikipedia, “Kalanchoe delagoensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Kalanchoe

Kalanchoe, , is a genus of about 125 species of tropical, succulent plants in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae, mainly native to Madagascar and tropical Africa. A Kalanchoe species was one of the first plants to be sent into space, sent on a resupply to the Soviet Salyut 6 space station in 1979.

Text from Wikipedia, “Kalanchoe”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Crassulaceae
Described by
Eckl. & Zeyh.
Native to
Madagascar
Wild records
23 in range· 21 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jan, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1276mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 233 mm (CHELSA)
Light
23–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Kalanchoe, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1276 mm a year, wettest January at 233 mm, driest June at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 14.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bryophyllum delagoense (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Druce; Bryophyllum delagoense (Eckl. & Zeyh.) Schinz; Bryophyllum tubiflorum Harv.; Bryophyllum verticillatum (Scott Elliot) A.Berger; Geaya purpurea Costantin & Poiss. and 3 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Kalanchoe, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (906 mm of 1276 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.7 °C against a yearly mean of 22.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1276 mm a year, wettest January at 233 mm, driest June at 34 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1276 mm a year at the habitat, 906 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 233 mm, driest June at 34 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 633 mm to 2292 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 23 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 14.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 14.1 °C, the absolute minimum 11.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 13.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 10.5 °C to 17.5 °C), warmest day 28.4 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 22 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Jan; mean night from 14 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1276 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 22 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 31.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°31.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 23–44RH 58–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 22 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 26–3128 / 26–3128 / 25–3126 / 24–3025 / 22–2823 / 19–2622 / 19–2524 / 21–2726 / 23–3027 / 25–3128 / 26–3228 / 26–32
Night °C21 / 18–2421 / 18–2420 / 17–2319 / 16–2216 / 13–2014 / 11–1814 / 11–1814 / 11–1815 / 12–1917 / 14–2019 / 15–2120 / 17–23
Rain mm233 / 157–334204 / 126–303158 / 75–287102 / 35–18560 / 18–15834 / 6–10639 / 10–15336 / 6–8838 / 14–9461 / 31–115119 / 49–187192 / 122–306
DLI42 / 38–4439 / 37–4136 / 34–3931 / 29–3426 / 24–2923 / 21–2624 / 22–2730 / 28–3337 / 35–4042 / 41–4544 / 43–4744 / 41–46
RH %64 / 60–6865 / 60–6864 / 60–6763 / 58–6762 / 57–6561 / 56–6461 / 56–6460 / 54–6358 / 53–6359 / 55–6460 / 57–6563 / 59–66

Each figure is the median across the 22 grid cells holding the 22 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2296:4538 (-24.825, 46.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 22 distinct grid cells holding the 22 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2296:4538 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.00_46.875, lapse-corrected +128 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 346 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMadagascar· introduced: Corse, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Italy, Sicilia, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Senegal, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, Iraq, Turkey, China Southeast, Bangladesh, India, West Himalaya, Cambodia, Vietnam, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand North, Gilbert Is., New Caledonia, Samoa, Marquesas, Marianas, Hawaii, Texas, Florida, Mexico Southwest, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast
Kew's description“succulent subshrub” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-24.946, 46.629 · in the densest population, 14 records (61% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 23 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 21 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1293 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 23 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Kalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensisKalanchoe delagoensis

Photographs: (c) Daniel Macías Gómez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Robert Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Kalanchoe delagoensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Bioactivities of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Alexandria
Hosam O. Elansary, Agnieszka Szopa, Paweł Kubica, Halina Ekiert (2018) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Comparative and Evolutionary Analyses on the Complete Plastomes of Five Kalanchoe Horticultural Plants
Xiangyu Tian, Jia Guo, Xiaojiao Zhou, Ke Ma (2021) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Biomass Allocation, Plantlet Survival, and Chemical Control of the Invasive Chandelier Plant (Kalanchoe delagoensis) (Crassulaceae)
Azalea Guerra‐García, Diego Alejandro Barrales-Alcalá, Magda Argueta‐Guzmán, Abraham Cruz (2018) · Invasive Plant Science and Management
Differential Distribution of Flavonoids and Phenolic Acids in Leaves of Kalanchoe delagoensis Ecklon & Zeyher (Crassulaceae)
Jamile Marques Casanova, Luana Beatriz dos Santos Nascimento, Livia Marques Casanova, Marcos Vinícius Leal-Costa (2020) · Microscopy and Microanalysis
Kalanchoe ×houghtonii (Crassulaceae) recorded near Lisbon, Portugal
Gideon F. Smith, Estrela Figueiredo, Vasco Silva (2015) · Bouteloua
Prescriptions for the Control of a Clonal Invasive Species Using Demographic Models
Gabriel Arroyo‐Cosultchi, Jordán Golubov, Jonathan V. Solórzano, María C. Mandujano (2022) · Plants
Notes et contributions à la flore de Corse, XXII
Daniel Jeanmonod, André Schlüssel (2008) · Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva)
The winner takes it all: a single genotype of Kalanchoe × houghtonii is a global invader
Joan Pere Pascual‐Díaz, Neus Besolí, Jordi López‐Pujol, Neus Nualart (2025) · Annals of Botany
Sealing system in culture vessels affects the in vitro development of mother-of-millions (Kalanchoe delagoensis Ecklon and Zeyher)
Jessica Soares, Gabriel Malta Dutra de Oliveira, Lázara Aline Simões Silva, Lana Laene Lima Dias (2024) · Ornamental Horticulture
Flavonol Glycosides and Gallic Acid from Flowers of Kalanchoe delagoensis
Fábio T. da Silva, Livia Marques Casanova, Amanda Rodrigues Matos, Jamile Marques Casanova (2022) · Revista Virtual de Química

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Kalanchoe 13 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 66 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.