Kalanchoe delagoensis Ecklon & Zeyher (1837: 305)

Gallo, Lorenzo & Smith, Gideon F., 2024, A review of the genus Kalanchoe (Crassulaceae subfam. Cotyledonoideae) in the Euro-Mediterranean area, with an annotated catalogue and identification key, Phytotaxa 674 (2), pp. 171-198 : 176-179

3. Kalanchoe delagoensis Ecklon & Zeyher (1837: 305) ( Fig. 3 ).

Type:—[ MOZAMBIQUE or, possibly, MADAGASCAR]. s.l. s.d., s.c. / leg. ign. s.n. [likely William Fitz William Owen s.n. or possibly John Forbes s.n.] (holotype S barcode S-G-10717! [Image of the specimen available for examination online at https://herbarium.nrm.se/specimens/S-G-10717/image/]).

Iconography:— Tölken & Leistner (1986), Wang et al. (2016), Smith et al. (2019: 274–278).

Secondary distribution:— Italy (Calabria) = cited by Spampinato et al. (2022) as casual; (Sicily) cited by Mazzola (1981) as Kalanchoe sp. and confirmed as K. × houghtonii following telephone interview (13 March 2000), also cited by Randall (2017); (Sardinia) cited by Bacchetta et al. (2009), Podda et al. (2012), and Puddu et al. (2016). Spain = (Catalonia) cited by Aymerich & Saez (2019), Saez & Aymerich (2021), and Randall (2017) for Canary Islands. France = (including Corsica) cited by Randall (2017), INVMED-Flore (2024, https://invmed.fr/src/home/index.php), SIFLORE (2024, http://siflore.fcbn.fr/?cd_ref=&r=metro), Puddu et al. (2016), and Jeanmonod & Paradis (2008: 145); French “Côte d’Azur” ( Alziar 1988), presumably from between Cap Martin, Cap-d’Ail, and Mont Boron, as K. verticillata Scott Elliot (1891: 14) , a heterotypic synonym of K. delagoensis ( Descoings 2003: 154, Smith et al. 2019: 274). Portugal = cited by Seebens et al. (2021) [from 1999] and by Almeida (2012) for Estremadura, Silva et al. (2015), Randall (2017). Malta = Mifsud (2002 –2022), with the vernacular name Mother-of-Millions recorded. Egypt = cultivated ( Wickens 1994). Turkey (Anatolia) = cited by Uludağ et al. (2017). Poland = escaped from greenhouse cultivation ( Galera & Ratynska 1999).

[Also in Angola, Argentina, Ascension, Caribbean, Macaronesia (Azores, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Madeira), Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, St Helena, U.S.A.]

Notes:—The cryptic descriptive statement—only three words—that was published in the protologue of the name K. delagoensis resulted in it having been variously treated as a validly published name or as a designation. To resolve this uncertainty, a request for a binding decision on whether the name K. delagoensis was validly published in 1837 by Ecklon and Zeyher was submitted to the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants (NCVP) ( Figueiredo & Smith 2017a). The NCVP voted in support of regarding the name K. delagoensis as having been validly published and their report was accepted by the General Committee. The name K. delagoensis Ecklon & Zeyher (1837: 305) was confirmed as having been validly published by the Nomenclature Section and the plenary session of the July 2024, XXth International Botanical Congress that took place in Madrid, Spain ( Smith 2024b).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Kalanchoe delagoensis, here grown in a large garden, often outstays its welcome in cultivation, and irresponsibly discarded material can easily become established and weedy in natural vegetation. (Photograph: Gideon F. Smith).