[citation needed] Most are shrubs or perennial herbaceous plants, but a few are annual or biennial.

[citation needed] Several hybrids within Kalanchoe are known: The genus is predominantly native to the Old World.

They are popular because of their ease of propagation, low water requirements, and wide variety of flower colors typically borne in clusters well above the leaves.

In these plants, new individuals develop vegetatively as plantlets, also known as bulbils or gemmae, at indentations in leaf margins.

No males have been found of one species of this genus which does flower and produce seeds, and it is commonly called the mother of thousands: Kalanchoe daigremontiana is thus an example of asexual reproduction.

[18][19] In traditional medicine, Kalanchoe species have been used to treat ailments such as infections, rheumatism and inflammation.

Kalanchoe pinnata has been recorded in Trinidad and Tobago as being used as a traditional treatment for hypertension.