Kalanchoe rotundifolia, commonly known as common kalanchoe, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It is a succulent annual or subshrub with orange-red flowers. The species is native to southern Africa and Socotra, and was described in 1824.
Taxonomy In 1824, Adrian Hardy Haworth described Crassula rotundifolia. In 1825, he moved it from Crassula to Kalanchoe.
Distribution Kalanchoe rotundifolia is native to the seasonally dry tropical biomes of Botswana, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West), Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Yemen (Socotra), Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
The species grows under trees, in full or partial shade. It is present in grasslands, savannas, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, and bushveld environments.
Description Kalanchoe rotundifolia is a succulent annual or subshrub. It grows high, and is covered with waxy material. The leaves are oblong to oblong-lanceolate, spoon-shaped, or triangular, long, and wide. The margins are smooth or have rounded teeth. The leaf stems are long.
The inflorescence is a panicle that grows up to long. The inflorescence stem is long. The corolla is a long tube, that can be up to wide. The corolla tube is orange-red and greenish-yellow at the bottom. The corolla has lanceolate or elliptical lobes, which are long, and wide. The calyx lobes are lanceolate or triangular, long, and wide. The plant flowers from March to August.
The seeds are around long.
Ecology Kalanchoe rotundifolia is parasitised by Metaphycus nigripectus, a species of wasp.
Kalanchoe rotundifolia hybridises with Kalanchoe longiflora, forming the nothospecies Kalanchoe ×robertsonii.
Nomenclature English common names for Kalanchoe rotundifolia are "Common Kalanchoe" and "Nentakalanchoe".
In Afrikaans, the species is known as or . In Tswana, the species is known as . In Venda, it is known as . In Xhosa, it is known as . In the Zulu language, it is known as , , or .
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