Family: Asteraceae (tribe: Senecioneae)
Habitat: South Africa
Cultivation: Kleinia does not require any special attention compared to the other succulents. The best exposure is half sun, watering can be abundant in the summer and limited in winter.
Curiosity: Kleinia is part of the family of asteracea, a family that includes many plants with daisy shaped flowers. The name of the genus, in fact, comes from the Greek Aster, that is Star.

KLEINIA KEY FEATURES

Kleinia’s plants are part of the Asteraceae family, the same family of sunflowers and many other flowering plants. They are dicotyledonous plants with fleshy stems that can be either herbaceous and woody and leaves that have a rich variety of shapes: narrow and elongated as in k. Articulate, lanceolate in the k. Abyssinica, to the very spherical ones of k. rowleyana.

In general, therefore, kleinia can take on many different shapes and aspects and are united by morphological characteristics. The fruit is an achenio: a dry fruit with a hardened outer skin or wood. Examples of achenio that everyone knows are, for example, sunflower seeds or chestnuts.

VARIETIES AND TYPES

Here are the species belonging to this genus, net of variants and crosses. Sometimes kleinia is also called senecio; as the intermediate classification between the family and the genus, in fact, it is part of the Senecioneae family.

• Kleinia abyssinica
• K. amaniensis
• K. anteuphorbium
• K. breviflora
• K. caespitosa
• K. cephalophora
• K. cliffordiana
• K. curvata
• K. dolichocoma
• K. fulgens
• K. galpinii
• K. gracilis
• K. grantii
• K. gregorii
• K. gypsophila
• K. implexa
• K. isabellae
• K. kleiniiformis
• K. kleinioides
• K. leptophylla
• K. longiflora
• K. lunulata
• K. madagascariensis
• K. mweroensis
• K. negrii
• K. neriifolia
• K. nogalensis
• K. odor
• K. ogadensis
• K. oligodonta
• K. patriciae
• K. pendula
• K. petraea
• K. picticaulis
• K. rowleyanus
• K. sabulosa
• K. schwartzii
• K. schweinfurthii
• K. scotti
• K. scottioides
• K. squarrosa
• K. stapeliiformis
• K. tortuosa
• K. triantha
• K. tuberculata
• K. vermicularis

TIPS FOR CULTIVATION

Here are our tips for cultivating klenia:

• Place the plant in half shade; the direct rays of the sun could damage it.
• The minimum temperature must remain above 10 ° C
• In spring and summer proceed with abundant watering to support growth and bloom. In the winter, however, continue watering but taking care to leave the ground just  a little wet.
• A standard soil for succulent or flowering plants will be fine: kleinia is not very demanding in this regard.
• Fertilize only in spring and summer once every 15 days, using half the recommended doses on the packs.
• The need for repotting varies according to the size and vigor of species growth.
• Generally, kleinia reproduces by cutting.
• The easiest to root is the branch cuttings; be careful, however, to dry the wound well before it is buried (3-4 days if the stem is succulent, as it is in most kleinia species).