Mother of Thousands

It is a succulent driven to succeed, and for the longest time, we just called it "the alien plant." In fact, we didn't know what it was. We did know that the plant thrives in the King William District of San Antonio.

It thrives just about anywhere it is set down for more than four or five minutes. One gardening forum poster wrote that the plant took over a soil-less cement patio in Florida. I believe it.

Kalanchoe daigremontiana, also called "Mother of Thousands," "Pregnant Plant," "Devil's Backbone" and "Mexican Hat," is native to Madagascar.

Drought-tolerant, the plant is sometimes touted as a candidate for xeriscapes. The green leaves are often mottled with a darker -- almost reptilian -- pattern on the undersides. The plant blooms ... well, it could be just about anytime: ours bloomed in the spring, but others claim winter and even summer. The blooms themselves are showy, usually red or orange or purple, and last quite a while.

Why it has blooms at all is another question. It's not like the Mother of Thousands needs them. The common name of the plant refers to the fact that it is viviparous. It has a remarkable habit of forming "plantlets" (technically, "bulbils") at the margins of its leaves. These baby plants will develop roots and, when they're ready, separate from the mother ship and colonize wherever they happen to land.

Here's what the literature says about propogation methods for this plant: By dividing rhizomes, tubers, cormsor bulbs; from leaf cuttings; from herbaceous stem cuttings; from softwood cuttings; from seed; by simple layering; from bulbils.

In other words, just about any way you care to try will likely produce more plants.

One tradition, reported from both the American South and from Cuba, is to pin a leaf to a window curtain where it will live in near-perpetuity and produce plantlets ready for transplantation.

The incredible "life force" (as one of Tam's friends aptly put it) of this plant is the primary reason we decided this week that it does not have a place in our planned succulent garden. It wasn't hard to envision ranks of alien plants spreading across the greenbelt.

It's just not safe to keep them outside. In fact, the plant is highly toxic to all sorts of critters, including humans.

Australia has reportedly banned the propogation of "Mother of Thousands" because it is so invasive, and the government there is on a mission to eradicate it from the landscape.

But we do think it's an awfully cool plant. One will live on as a house plant upstairs. And if anyone wants some plantlets, just let us know.