The existence of diversity in the voltage activated Ca2+ channel populations of vertebrate cells has been long recognized. More recently, the molecular cloning of a considerable number of Ca2+ channel subunits from cDNA libraries has indicated that the range of possible Ca2+ channel phenotypes a cell can express may be even greater than was previously appreciated. A challenge of recent years has been to resolve how the properties of recombinant channels correspond with their counterparts experimentally characterized in native cells. In this short review I will outline the properties of both native and recombinant Ca2+ channels, and will then describe the current agreements and controversies concerning their relationships to each other.