Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, Raymond-Hamet & Perrier de la Bathie, 1915

Smith, Gideon F., 2024, Revisiting the nomenclature and taxonomy of the Malagasy Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, and description of K. fedtschenkoi var. boiteaui (Crassulaceae subfam. Kalanchooideae), Phytotaxa 645 (2), pp. 99-119 : 107-108

Nomenclature of Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi

Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi Raymond-Hamet & Perrier de la Bâthie (1915: 75) . Also treated in: Boiteau & Mannoni (1949c: 73), Raymond-Hamet & Marnier-Lapostolle (1964: 45–46, Planche XIV, Figs 39 & 40), Jacobsen (1977: 284, Plate 103,4), Jacobsen (1986: 613, Fig. 855), Boiteau & Allorge-Boiteau (1995: 104), Rauh (1995: 116, 149, 151, Figs 387–389, 198), Rauh (1998: 320, 374), Descoings (2003: 156), Bryant et al. (2005: 740–741), Moore (2017: 240, 245), Smith & Figueiredo (2017: 83–85), Smith et al. (2019: 254), Smith & Shtein (2021: 132).

Homotypic synonym:— Bryophyllum fedtschenkoi (Raym.-Hamet & H.Perrier) Lauzac-Marchal (1974: 2508) . Also treated in: Walters (2011: 251).

Type:— MADAGASCAR. Fianarantsoa province. Mount Tsilongabalala, 1000 m above sea level, near Ihosy , Mangoky , September 1911, [J.M.] H. [A.] Perrier de la Bâthie 11797 (lectotype, Herb. P barcode P00431060 ! [Image of the specimen available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p00431060]), treated as “holotype” by Boiteau & Alorge-Boiteau (1995: 104), corrected to lectotype by Smith & Shtein (2021: 132) .

Epitype:— MADAGASCAR. [Southwestern] Madagascar. Fianarantsoa province. Ihosy Valley, Mangoky Basin , 800–1000 m above sea level, on rocky slopes, 29–30 October 1924, [ J.- H.] Humbert 2989 bis (epitype, Herb. P barcode P03353732 ! [Image of the specimen available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p03353732]), epitype, designated by Smith & Shtein (2021: 132) ; [ J.- H.] Humbert 2989 bis (isoepitypes, Herb. P P03353735 ! [Image of the specimen available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p03353735]; P P03353736 ! [Image of the specimen available at http://coldb.mnhn.fr/catalognumber/mnhn/p/p03353736]) .

Designation not validly published:—“ Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi var. typica ” Boiteau & Mannoni (1949c: 73 [–74]), nom. inval. ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 24.3).

Nomenclatural note:—The designation “ K. fedtschenkoi var. typica ” was not validly published because infraspecific names with final epithets such as ‘ typica ’ that aim to indicate the taxon containing the type of the name of the next higher-ranked taxon (in this case a species) are not validly published unless they have the same final epithet as the name of the corresponding higher-ranked taxon ( Turland et al. 2018: Art. 24.3).

Description:—Perennial, spreading, robust, tuft-like, smooth, brittle, sparsely to densely branched shrubs with haphazard, untidy canopies; succulent, to 0.50(–0.75) m tall, clumps generally annually increasing in size. Stems thin, green to greenish purple when young, becoming brown to purplish brown to purple with age, variously erect or prostrate (creeping), rooting along the way, especially leaning branches developing long, tough, near-woody stilt-like roots; bark peeling to flaking with age, flimsy, brown to greyish brown. Leaves many, densely packed in young plants, more widely dispersed on older stems, then usually in upper part of stems and branches, ± erect to variously slanted away from branches and stems, often in one direction, succulent, glabrous, petiolate, flattened above and below, midrib often slightly thickened abaxially in line with petiole, bluish to purplish to brownish or yellowish green, distinctly waxy, wax easily rubs off; petiole succulent, 1–5(–10) mm long, same colour as leaf blade; blade 20–70 × 15–40 mm, obovate to obovate-oblong to nearly round; base narrow, cuneate; apex rounded-obtuse; margins often reddish purple, irregularly toothed with coarse, acute or sub-acute crenations especially in upper half, lower half of leaves sometimes with a few small, ± irregular crenations only, indentations between teeth sometimes dark reddish to brownpurple, somewhat angled, carrying bulbils especially once leaves are detached. Inflorescence a terminal, apically branched, many-flowered, head-shaped corymb, 20(–25) cm tall, erect, sometimes bulbiliferous after flowering; some corymb branches terminating in sterile, curved, pedicel-like branchlets; peduncle straight, light brownish purple, with or without leaf-like bracts. Flowers pendent, glabrous, subtended by small bracts that soon shrivel, waxy bloom absent, papery when dry, drying same purplish colour as calyx; pedicels glabrous, 6–10 mm long. Calyx consisting of 4 sepals, tUbUlaR fOR ± ⅔ tO ¾; sepals (12–)15–20 MM lOng, fUsEd fOR (8–)10–15 MM, ObscURIng ⅔ tO ¾ Of thE cOROlla tUbE, light yellowish green to greenish to pinkish purple, purple more prominent towards sepal tips and arranged in faint longitudinal lines; free portion deltoid to elongated-triangular, acute-tipped. Corolla consisting of 4 petals; corolla tube (15–)18–20(–21) mm long, orange to pinkish orange to yellowish to reddish, prominently or obscurely longitudinally infused with yellow in centre of petal, more or less cylindrical-tubular to somewhat campanulate, flared at the mouth; corolla lobes ± 5.0 × 4.5(–5.0) mm, same colour as tube, obovate to spathulate, apically obtuse-flattened with a slight indentation. Stamens 8, inserted very low down in corolla tube at ± upper end of carpels; filaments ± 20 mm long, thin, light purplish red to orangey; anthers 0.5–1.0 mm long, blackish grey, included or hardly exserted but well-exposed; pollen greyish yellow. Pistil consisting of 4 carpels; carpels 6–8 mm long, light shiny green; styles 18–20 mm long; stigmas very slightly capitate, later slightly exserted, greenish; scales rectangular to square, free, ± 1 × 1 mm, slightly indented above. Follicles 6–8 mm long, light green, eventually brittle, grass spikelet-like when dry, enveloped in dry, dull purplish to pinkish cream remains of calyx and corolla, calyx and styles persistent for a long time. Seeds very small, 0.3–0.5 mm long, dark brown to reddish brown, straight-rectangular or banana-shaped-curved, slightly apiculate at one end, faintly longitudinally striated. Chromosome number: n = 17, 2 n = 34 ( Baldwin 1938: 576, Friedmann 1971: 104, Smith 2022: 158).