Origin and Habitat: Nursery produced cultivar.

• Kalanchoe tomentosa cv. Chocolate Soldier

• Kalanchoe tomentosa cv. Chocolate Soldier

Description: It is a beautiful slow growing perennial succulent plant with dense white felt-like hairs covering the entire leaf eventually forming an upright small shrub that will reach about 35-45 cm (In nature, it grows to 1 m in height). It is a very attractive but polymorphic species and there are many cultivars with color variants .It is commonly sold as Panda Plant or Pussy Ears because of its furry leaves.
Stems: Robust, branched at the base and densely hairy, with the base becoming woody with age.
Rosettes: At stems apexes.
Leaves: Stalkless, fleshy, narrowly oval, pointed, 5-7 cm long, thickly covered with spreading whitish to blue-green hairs (trichomes) in the center except at the tips which have several shallow notches with rich chocolate coloured hairs giving it a rather attractive look.
Flowers: In a narrow panicle about 30 cm long, with cymose branches, the upper close and many-flowered, Flowers small, but are quite uniquely attractive furry, bell-shapes that are golden ginger in colour.
Remark: 'cv. Chocolate Soldier' forms a shrubby plant with much more brown all around the edges with nearly black markings at the tips. It also grows a bit faster than the plain form, with more of a clumping habit. Its individual leaves are thinner and longer than for the standard species. The rich chocolate colour provides an attractive accent with other plants. The specific cultivar 'Chocolate Soldier' by right of the greater amount of brown fur edging each leaf tends more to evoke a red lesser panda, & this form is occasionally called "Teddy Bear Cactus".

Cultivation and Propagation: It is one of the easiest-to-grow succulents. It needs dry conditions and is not suited to outdoor planting in high rainfall areas because in this conditions it is not such a bright, clean-looking plant as it is when grown indoors, but is very useful in containers in dry places. Panda Plant is tolerant of dry air. It makes a good house plant for heated homes. It needs full sun to light shade, or bright indirect lighting in the home. It need a well drained soil and warm temperatures. They are from damper climates than most succulents and like more water in the summer. Plants are watered and allow to dry thoroughly before watering again. Fertilize only once during the growing season with a balanced fertilizer diluted to half the strength recommended on the label. During the winter months, plants are watered only enough to keep the leaves from shrivelling. Protect from frost.
Propagation: Kalanchoe tomentosaSN|21226]]SN|21226]] is propagated by stem cutting or by leaf cuttings. Leaves removed from the plant very carefully will produce small plant in about 4 weeks. Succulent cuttings root easily in moist sandy mix or perlite.