🌱 Morphology
   Velvety and soft... A perennial succulent subshrub, highly branched, forming dense clumps of about 40–100 cm. The stems are robust, erect, and become woody with age. Both stems and leaves are densely covered with tiny whitish stellate hairs, responsible for their characteristic velvety appearance. The leaves are opposite, petiolate, flat, thick, and fleshy, light green to grey-green in colour; the blade is obovate, ovate or orbicular, approximately 3–6.5 cm long and wide, with a rounded apex ending in a small sharp tooth and an irregularly sinuate-dentate margin with broad teeth.

🌍 Distribution, habitat and family
Family Crassulaceae. A species accepted by Kew, native to central-southern and southeastern Madagascar, where it grows in dry forests and seasonal xerophytic scrubland. 

❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9b
It is a warm-climate species that is not very frost-tolerant. SANBI expressly states that a severe frost can kill the plant. It is recommended to keep it dry when temperatures drop and to protect it from frost and damp cold. The indicated USDA Zone is a guideline and represents the average minimum annual temperature of the area, not a guarantee of the plant's survival.

☀️ Lighting
Intense lighting is recommended, with a target of 15–25 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ of PAR DLI during growth. It tolerates anything from filtered sunlight to direct sun after gradual acclimatisation. With greater lighting, the foliage may take on slightly golden tones, while with more filtered light it remains more grey-green.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Summer dormancy. It is a species adapted to environments with marked seasonality. During growth, it is recommended to water abundantly and allow the substrate to dry out completely before watering again. In winter, water intake should be significantly reduced, especially at low temperatures. Its densely tomentose foliage does not indicate a high need for moisture: excess water, especially when combined with cold, considerably increases the risk of rot.

🌸 Flowering
It produces terminal inflorescences in panicle-like corymbs, relatively dense, about 2–10 cm. The flowers are erect; the calyx may show yellowish-green to orange tones and is covered with glandular hairs. The corolla is tubular, yellowish-green to yellow-orange in colour, although there are populations with white or pink-tinged white flowers. In Spain, flowering can mainly be expected during spring and summer, approximately between April and July.

One particularly interesting aspect is its response to photoperiod: in an experimental study, K. millotii flowered only after 16 weeks of short days, and did not flower under prolonged night lighting. Therefore, sufficiently long nights during the preceding period may be important for inducing flowering.

🌿 Nutrition
It is recommended to use Desert CHOICE® Succulents during the active growth period. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering, especially when the formation of inflorescences is intended to be encouraged.

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi.

Basic collection plant in a 9x9 cm pot