A novel actinomycete, designated strain KLBMP 1111(T), was isolated from the root of the oil-seed plant Jatropha curcas L. collected from Sichuan Province, south-west China. Strain KLBMP 1111(T) formed a distinct branch in the 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic tree together with the type strains in the genus Kibdelosporangium, with the highest similarity to Kibdelosporangium aridum subsp. aridum DSM 43828(T) (98.8%), K. aridum subsp. largum DSM 44150(T) (98.1%) and Kibdelosporangium philippinense DSM 44226(T) (98.1%). The organism produced sporangium-like structures, the typical morphological characteristic of the genus Kibdelosporangium. The chemotaxonomic properties of this strain were also consistent with those of the genus Kibdelosporangium: the peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid; the predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H(4)); phospholipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol and an unknown phospholipid; iso-C(16:0), C(16:0), anteiso-C(15:0) and iso-C(15:0) as the predominant cellular fatty acids and the G+C content was 67.2 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain KLBMP 1111(T) and the three Kibdelosporangium species were less than 50%. This strain had the ability to produce a siderophore, utilized 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) as sole source of nitrogen and possessed ACC deaminase enzyme. Based on genotypic and phenotypic data, strain KLBMP 1111(T) represents a novel species in the genus Kibdelosporangium. We propose the name Kibdelosporangium phytohabitans sp. nov. for this species. The type strain is the strain KLBMP 1111(T) (=KCTC 19775(T) = CCTCC AA 2010001(T)).